How to Shift Your State of Mind

By Lara Just, March 2024. This blog looks at some key processes to shift from stress to calm, dis-ease to wellbeing and from our brains to our hearts, by changing our thoughts. Much of our stress-induced living is exacerbated by hidden fear-based programmes. This keeps us from connecting with our heart intelligence to use our innate sensing mechanisms and wisdom hidden in our own bodies. Intellectual and logical rationalising and justifying keeps us often stuck in the same patterns repeating the same difficulties in our lives in what seems like an endless loop. We look at ways to break the pattern and shifting into creating more of the things we want in life rather than more of what we do…

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Spare to Listen – What do we need to do to be heard?

by Lara Just, January 2023. A few weeks ago, the new book “Spare” from Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex was published amidst high anticipation by the public and expected media frenzy. It is worth a read (or listen) – if you are a royalist or not. It is not just Harry’s side of the story, it is a heartfelt human story. A story of what we all face in some ways in our own lives: full of universally recognised family dynamics, intrigues, classic archetypes, secrets, loss as well as mental health struggles. However, it is also a love story and a story of hope, with much joy, gratitude and beauty peppered along the way amongst some of the very…

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Year-End Reflections and Stories With Heart

By Lara Just, December 2022… Here is a little winter ‘treat’, as a “Thank You” to everyone, offering a collection of some good movies, documentaries, books, this time even some ‘audio-cinema’, podcasts, apps and food recipes for ideas to nurture yourself and self-care this winter break. Again it feels like another year has passed somewhat quickly, and we are coming to the last day of 2022. I had finally managed to start writing this on the shortest day of the season, the ‘winter solstice’ (21st December).  The ‘specialness’ of this shortest day, has only hit me properly more recently. Not only are the days getting brighter again from this point onwards, we are also heading to Spring again. But to be honest, when growing up I never really thought about it….

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Psychotherapy and the Climate Crisis

By Lara Just, January 2022… Well at least it is getting warmer here in the UK! I chuckle, agreeing to a client’s joke in session. In fact, I used to do this probably many times with other colleagues and friends. Let’s face it, it’s easier to not think about it or make light of it, right? To be honest, what else can you do when the truth seems too overwhelming and painful? Or is it? I am in the same boat. I have to shamefully admit, that I was probably one of the worst at joking about this. I love the sun. ‘Oh at least I don’t have to travel to Spain or South Africa anymore for some hot summer…

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Becoming: Losing Yourself to Find Your Self

Written by Lara Just, December 2021… This blog looks at how we lose ourselves in an attempt to find ourselves, over and over again, and what could help in the process. We can lose ourselves in relation to others, for example in a romantic relationship, or friendship; though often we attempt to find ourselves in them. Finding ourselves in this context means coming back to our (core) Self, our own values. It is also closely linked to grief and loss; and our resulting growth and change. The idea of taking more time when we have usually less time may be at odds with our time-poor fast-paced lifestyles. To make more time may cost sacrifices that we are unwilling to make,…

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Facing Ahead to a Changed New World in 2021

Written by Lara Just, January 2021… This year has been a strange year to say the least. When I wrote the newsletter at the beginning of the year entitled “Meeting 2020 with Horns”, I didn’t realise how much we needed a set of them, considering what we have all gone through this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple lockdowns on a global scale. This blog is a little stocktaking of this year here in my psychotherapy practice and introduced a few different topics; like how to cope with what I call the new trend of ‘desocialisation’ and how to deal with loneliness and isolation, and there are some film, music and book tips for the Christmas…

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Top Tips to Cope with Loneliness and Change this Lockdown Christmas: Year 2020 Round-Up and how to transition smoothly into the New Year 2021

Written by Lara Just – December 2020… After the events of this year, many of us have experienced challenges, losses, and above all change. My practice has been very full this year with the biggest spike in the second half and the predominant themes amongst those struggling the hardest are sadness and frustration, social isolation and loneliness. Feeling lonely and being alone are two quite different things. Let me clarify this point. We can feel alone when we feel by ourselves or not having anyone that could help or support us. But being alone or by ourselves doesn’t equal feeling lonely. Some people can feel quite grounded in their own company. However, others can feel lonely even if they are…

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Changed World: Coping with the new trend of “Desocialisation”

Written by Lara Just – December 2020… This year has been a challenge for many – to say the least and this is probably even an understatement at large. I don’t write blog articles very often, and when I do I like to use either themes that come up in my clinical practice with clients or something that I find interesting at the time. At the moment the themes in general seem to be around loneliness, social isolation and with this also procrastination and lack of motivation. There has been a notable shift to those themes with many of my clients over the past nine months. I too have felt it, and so have some of my colleagues and friends…

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What is Walk and Talk Therapy?

By Lara Just, September 2020… See this article published for Welldoing.org here! The image often evoked of therapy involves a room and two chairs, maybe a couch – but therapy doesn’t have to be this way. Therapist Lara Just explains how walk and talk, or outdoor, therapy works. Outdoor therapy is more Covid-secure and more clients than ever are offering this service. The events over the past six months across the world have changed many things. Online working has become more popular and many people are desperate to get out and about and into nature, particularly those feeling stuck in small living spaces and in cities. This has also changed psychotherapy and how it is offered. Though I have been working outdoors and online…

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Creative Self-Therapy: How to get ready for the next chapter

By Lara Just, September 2020… In the previous blog I shared my experience with the dead branch falling off a huge ancient oak tree right before my eyes while I entered the field with my dog on a walk. The symbolism of letting go or shedding something old is important in renewal and change work and very much linked to the process of self-care and therapy. We will explore the concept of ‘Self-Therapy’ more in this article. Sometimes we do need to let go of the things that no longer serve us. These may be old or unhelpful habits, being stuck in familiar patterns that have the same obsessive thoughts and feelings come up over and over again. This could…

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Letting Go of ‘Control’ – or a Dead Branch

By Lara Just, August 2020… The events over the past six months across the world left many of us wondering how we can go on from here. What will happen next? What work will I do? Where will I get my clients from? How can I afford my life? Do I want to keep living (working, being in relation with xyz…etc) as before? Do I still want to be in a city? Do I want a different work-life-balance? Do I finally want to get a dog/cat, live in more natural surroundings? So many questions. All are real questions that I have heard from clients during sessions, friends, colleagues, including myself particularly during and after the COVID-19 lockdown experience. So much…

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Grief Work: New Things Can Grow out of Our ‘Compost’

Written by Lara Just – May 2020… CHANGE has clearly been a theme this year so far. In and outside of sessions various losses and grief – and ‘stuff’ (old and new) has been coming up for many of us, particularly in these current strange lockdown times. Perhaps we have been more available for these to come up now. In all their different forms so that they can be transformed into the rich ‘compost‘ it is meant to become: to allow new things to form and grow from it. Compost needs to be digested properly, slowly broken down, over time – so it can become a rich base for new life to appear and new growth to occur. New things which we cannot yet see… It is only after experiencing loss that we are challenged…

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Top 7 Tips to Stay Grounded & keep calm during the pandemic

Written by Lara Just – March 2020… After the recent events and the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic many of us have become concerned. It has plunged our world into uncertainty as we know it and we don’t know how each day or week ahead will be.It can be challenging to stay centred and calm in this turbulent time with relentless news reporting and social media posts. This newsletter will provide some general tips and useful links to help you manage and cope during these testing times.  Everyone seems already inundated with so much information on the topic, that it will feel hard what to sift out the right information for yourself. There are a lot of emotions flying around at…

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Endings for new Beginning: Meeting 2020 with Horns

Written by Lara Just – December 2019… In this blog we will look a bit at a roundup of 2019, what to expect ahead, a bit about transitions and change, the paradox of opposites, a trailer clip for a film I was recently interviewed for, and a few book recommendations for the Christmas break. [Disclaimer: this is not about NY resolutions, as they don’t really tend to work, right; more ‘anti-resolutions’ and ‘intentions’ to create more successful change. Get your horns ready.] I haven’t written a blog or a newsletter for a while. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind year full of challenges. I am sure it has been for you too. I have been repeatedly told that 2018 and…

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Nature as Therapist – Preventing Burnout

Written by Lara Just – June 2019… It’s been a busy summer month so far and it seemed fitting to write about how to manage some of the symptoms of stress, including low mood and energy. A good friend of mine is running some burnout retreats at the end of this month and clients are eligible to receive a fantastic discount. Also, we will look at how “Nature” can become a healing element. We probably all know that prolonged stress isn’t good for us. It can lead to burnout, anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue and many other symptoms. “Stress” doesn’t just mean having a lot to do or being too busy to see friends or go on holidays. Although yes, a long-term imbalance between work and play can…

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Boundaries and Trust

Written by Lara Just – January 2019… Moving on from last year’s and our theme of “letting go” to be able to renew and “letting in” again, these workshops may be right for you! If you happen to be near Cape Town in South Africa this March, and would like to visit the beautiful wine country of Stellenbosch, come and join us. Letting go was covered a little in the last newsletter. We also need to let go of old beliefs, no longer useful thoughts that we hang on to, to make room for the new and ‘letting in’ again. This requires trust. To trust ourselves and others, we must also trust our own boundaries when others might challenge or invade them. Our boundaries…

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Walking the Talk: Eco-therapy Sessions in Action

Written by Lara Just – September 2018… In the past few months requests and inquiries for ‘walk and talk’ sessions have increased, which quite surprised me. However, it also shows that people are perhaps seeking ‘something more’ and are looking for a connection with ‘nature’ and being outdoors instead of a clinic room. Much of our current lifestyles especially in urban areas are increasingly disconnecting us from our natural environment and surroundings. Apart from the fact that it may be ‘different’ to the traditional therapy model of working within the safe space of the walls of a clinical therapy room, it is not actually ‘just’ walking and talking. It may appeal to some people that find traditional ways of working in…

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Relationships – are they for a season a reason or a lifetime?

Written by Lara Just – May 2018… We may have heard of the saying that relationships come into our lives for a season, a reason or a lifetime. But what does this actually mean? This blog article explores if there is any learning for us in this for our relationships, and for what purpose they may enter our lives. Relationships can mean friendships, romantic relationships, or relationships with colleagues, family members or even when we meet strangers. Here, I want to particularly look at those that have a deep or lasting impact on us. Some people might call these soul mate connections. Relationships or soulmate relationships can come in many different forms. It can be helpful to see them as what…

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Emotional agility and being able to move on

Written by Lara Just – March 2018… I have chosen the quote in the image below for this blog out of two reasons. First, we cannot control how other people may treat us or how other people react to us, even when we think we have shown our best intentions. Second, we can only control how we react to others and how we chose to feel about it. As psychologist Susan David says so aptly in her talk about emotional agility (see our eNews on Emotional Agility): ‘we own our emotions, they don’t own us’. Well that sounds easier said than done – doesn’t it! Sometimes it may feel that ‘we just can’t help it’ and we are in fact controlled…

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Emotional Spring Clean – Are You Ready?

Written by Lara Just – April 2017… We hope you have enjoyed the Easter break. This time of year regularly invokes a need to spring clean – this could be our homes, our working lives or our own emotional intelligence so we thought this month we would look at detoxification and cleansing – both emotionally and physically. “Detox” was once one of those trendy words for diet fads, however, “detoxification” is a natural body process. Many organs are involved in this process and primarily our liver. It is basically a process of converting toxins to something less harmful to either re-utilise or to safely get them to the outside (via our excretory organs). Our bodies mainly do this when we are…

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Addiction – the Opposite of Connection and a Learnt Habit?

Written by Lara Just – March 2017… This month I came across and interesting animation film on the meaning of addiction. I thought it was very good and though this ‘new way’ of thinking about addiction has been around for a few years, it is still surrounded by quite a lot of controversy and misunderstanding. In this blog I will look at addiction, what it means, what is helpful and not so helpful and what we can do about it. When we think of “addiction”, here we can mean anything from substance abuse to behaviour addictions – e.g. like drugs, sex, gambling, food or shopping. Addictive behaviour can develop into addiction cycles which means certain “repetitive cycles” that are preceded by…

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7 Top Reasons Why Horses Can Change Your Life

Written by Lara Just – March 2017… Equine therapy has become an innovative approach for generating lasting change and can work well for corporate teams, families, couples or business partners and individuals, particularly when we reach places of stuckness. More research in this area is becoming available but it is still a new modality. In the coaching and therapy sector as well as business development it has become a useful innovative and solution-oriented way to overcome obstacles. But why is this creative and experiential approach so helpful? How can it enable change so effectively? Here are some of the top seven reasons of why horses can be so good at being enablers of change: Reason 1: Horses Really Get You They mirror our…

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Debunking the Top 6 Myths of Online Therapy

Written by Lara Just – Feb 2017… At ADADSU, we understand that your time is precious and you may not be able to attend psychotherapy, counselling or coaching sessions at our London therapy clinics.  With this in mind we now offer clients the choice of face-to-face or sessions conducted over appropriate online technologies. This may be via video, audio, email, chat or phone methods. It is interesting to us that there are still a number of myths surrounding online therapy that can put people off. We thought we would address some of the concerns in order to put your mind at rest: Myth 1 – Online therapy is not as effective as face-to-face sessions In truth, you only get out…

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The Horse as a Therapist – Harnessing the Healing Power and Intuitive Wisdom of Horses

Written by Lara Just – April 2016… We have recently started a new project to be added to ADADSU: Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Leadership Coaching. We are so excited about its potential having just witnessed most transformative changes among therapists and other mental health professionals on recent training days. This innovative and efficient way of working will soon be part of our services on offer, so stay tuned! Why Horses? Though other animals have been utilised to facilitate psychotherapeutic work, horses are unique as they are herd and prey animals. As such they are very attuned to their surroundings and are able to pick up the subtlest energies in the herd and in the environment, crucial to their survival out…

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