Newly Qualified Therapist? Ready to Master the Business Side of Your Practice?
When I started out as a therapist, no one mentioned a business plan. In fact, tutors and peers warned me: if you’re in this work to make money, you’re in the wrong profession. The message was loud and clear: therapy is a calling, not a business. And while that’s true—therapy is about healing, connection, and […]
What Could My Life Have Been? The Emotional Cost of a Late ADHD Diagnosis
There’s a quiet sort of heartbreak that comes with discovering you have ADHD later in life. Not the shock of a sudden illness, not the finality of a break up, but something slower, more complex — a lifetime seen through new eyes and perspective turned upside down. Because when the diagnosis finally lands — after […]
When the Body Remembers: How Medical Procedures Can Echo Trauma
Invasive medical procedures are often necessary—and at times life-saving. But for some, they can stir something deeper: a sense of fear, helplessness, or emotional shutdown that seems to come out of nowhere. For people who’ve experienced a difficult or traumatic natural birth, medical settings can unconsciously trigger old survival responses. It’s not “just nerves”—it’s the […]
Listen to my Radio interview about Assimilation & ADHD
Assimilation & ADHD: Why We Learn to Mask, and How to Self-Advocate From childhood, many neurodivergent individuals learn to blend in—to mask their traits in order to feel safe, accepted, or "normal." But what does that cost us? And how can we begin to unmask, honour our needs, and self-advocate with confidence? I unpack this […]
Being a Professional with ADHD: When Your Brain Forgets to Proofread (Even Though You Used To Be A Proofreader…)
If you’re a professional with ADHD, you probably know the feeling - you triple-check something in your head, hit send, and then realize you just informed everyone that your office will be closed for Easter… in July. Or you address a student as “Michael” when their name is definitely not Michael. (Apologies to all the […]
The ADHD-Entertainer Connection: A Family Legacy
Some families pass down jewellery or recipes - mine passes down the performer's spark. My great-great-grandfather, Patrick James Duffy, founded Duffy's Circus in Ireland in 1775. My grandparents defied gravity as trapeze artists, bareback riders, and jugglers, performing at the London Palladium. Today, my uncles are talented performers and musicians, and their kids? One is […]
Call of the Wild
When life's challenges become overwhelming, I yearn for the calm, peace and beauty of the great outdoors. Problems have a magical way of shrinking, if not disappearing altogether for a little while. The focus changes from modern-life challenges to the visceral; avoiding puddles, not losing the dog, finding your way when the map lets you […]
Reward Dysphoria & ADHD: When Success Feels… Meh
You know that feeling when you finally achieve something big, and instead of feeling like a champion, you just... stare at the wall? Yeah, same. I spent 12 years working toward my MSc in therapy - twelve years of studying, juggling demands of a young family, sacrificing, voluntary hours, essay and case study writing, six […]
The 12 Week Year: A Game-Changer for ADHD Brains (and Anyone Who Gets Bored Easily)
If you, like me, have ADHD, traditional yearly goal setting probably feels like a cruel joke. Set a goal in January? Forget about it by March. Revisit it in December? Don't be ridiculous. That’s why I was interested in the idea of The 12 Week Year, a book by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington. […]
The important balance of challenge and support in therapy
Many learning experiences incorporate a balance between challenge and support. The Theory of Challenge and Support, developed by Nevitt Sanford in 1966, states that “for growth to occur, a person needs a balanced amount of challenge and support as appropriate for the task. “In addition, a person must be ready, physically and psychologically, in order to grow”. Sanford 1966 […]