In December I attended a therapeutic retreat: the ‘Family of Origin Intensive’. Hosted at the beautiful The Falcon At Castle Ashby, from the initial circle of trust and safety on the first morning through the 5-day arc to the heartwarming closure, I felt held throughout by the superb practitioners and there was never a moment when I felt unsafe. This enabled me to take the leap into the deep healing work I needed to do. Our ‘Family of Origin’ is the first family we are bor

In my last article I talked about the recent death of my father and how struck I was by the extreme reactions when, in response to the greeting, ‘How are you?’ I replied calmly and gently, ‘I’m ok but my father has just died.’ ‘Initially I was shocked by some extraordinary reactions, including panicked exits and wildly off-key remarks, but then my professional research-self kicked in, and I began to test what was going on. At first, I thought it was about culture, gender, a

In my Thanksgiving article last November, I wrote about gratitude and grief prompted by the phrase: ‘Grief is love with nowhere to go.’ It resonated deeply because my father had become extremely frail 18 months before and I was already grieving for him. ‘I’ve learned much about grief over my lifetime: it’s impossible to live a full life without experiencing many losses and endings including the deaths of loved ones. There is no neat timeline for when we are ‘done’ and the way

Two weeks ago, I gave a TEDx talk at Warwick Business School. It was the fascinating theme, ‘Jigsaw’ of this year’s event that attracted me to say yes: ‘Jigsaw imagines the world as a puzzle: made up of pieces that appear separate but reveal a deeper story when joined together. Speakers might explore how overlooked fragments influence the whole, or how reframing a single piece can change the entire picture. Jigsaw asks us to step back, zoom out, and reconsider the connectio