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Navigating OCD

By Graham Watt

anxiety

obsessive compulsive disorder ocd stigma therapy

Posted: September 26, 2025

Living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can feel like being stuck in a loop you didn’t choose. Unwanted thoughts or urges (obsessions) often collide with repeated behaviours or rituals (compulsions), creating stress that can feel exhausting and isolating. Many people wonder if things can truly get better—especially when their thoughts feel private, intense, or even frightening. You are not alone—help and change are possible.

Self Compassion

By Fran Westwood

mental health

self compassion wisdom of your body

Posted: September 16, 2025

Cultivating self compassion introduces a kinder way of being with yourself. This translates into how we treat ourselves, and each other. It may not completely replace the harsh voices, the judgements, shame or angry outbursts. But self compassion invites noticing of our inner world and how we speak to ourselves, which over time translates into growth. It invites a pause, a noticing, even the recognition “wow, I am having such an unkind thought about myself” can create awareness, and that means distance between ourselves and that thought. When we can realize a part of me is thinking, feeling or acting a certain way, but not the whole of me, it stops feeling like the ultimate truth.

From Individualism to Interconnectedness

By Fran Westwood

mental health

interconnectedness therapy human flourishing

Posted: September 16, 2025

Many people living in the Western world have been shaped by predominantly individualistic values that view a person and their problems in isolation from other factors. This could be understood as part of the heritage of Western rationalism that was furthered during the Enlightenment period beginning in the 17th century. The focus on scientific reasoning in this period placed a high value on breaking things down into their smallest parts to study and make sense of them, as well as prioritizing the mind and mental reasoning over the body and emotional life. The Western world of mental health is shaped by this individualism; historically this has looked like the tendency to pathologize issues related to relational and cultural traumas, as well as viewing symptoms through a mental and scientific lens of diagnosis rather than a holistic view that includes a person’s emotional life, trauma, culture and history of relationships.

Climate Change and Mental Health

By Fran Westwood

Climate Anxiety

connection Managing Stress mental health eco-anxiety ecology emotions

Posted: September 4, 2025

Climate anxiety, eco-anxiety and eco-grief are all phrases that help capture distressing emotions that more and more people report experiencing in response to threats to our ecology, particularly the reality of a changing climate.

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