I met my younger self
I meet my younger self often, I sit with her in therapy sessions. I listen to my teen self scream at me when I make a decision she thinks is too risky. I...
Free post: Rest as retoration
Once every few months, I pull the paywall off an older, pid post, both to give myself a break, but also to give you all what kind of thing you can get it you...
On Anxiety
I’ve been vacillating on what I want to write this week. That’s why this email is later than normal. This is partly because of gestures at the world but also...
Remember how far you've come
I saw this tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taradefrancisco/video/7459977428161580331?_r=1&_t=ZG-8tDjl0ZUano For people who don’t want to go to tiktok, the...
Reframing as self-compassion
I wanted to share some questions I ask myself when I’m having trouble doing a task that I need to do at some point (especially if there’s a deadline), while...
What's the difference between therapy and a chat?
I want to put up here that I’m only training in person-centred therapy, and different modalities have different ways of working and practicing. When I say...
Making different choices
I want to talk about making the choice to do something differently. This reflection started during recovery from surgery, and it seems relevant given we’re...
A reflection
My holiday pack is here! This is a reworking version of my survivng the holidays during covid pack, and yoiu can find it over on the scb shop here:...
Surviving the holidays, part 1
Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, this time of year tends to make us want to reflect on the past year. The end of the calendar year, plus the longer...
Musings from surgery
I’m still not quite back to 100%, but here’s a lil thing to get me back into the writing habit. To be honest, I’ve got some fierce writer’s block at the...
Empathy for leadership
This post coincides with my talk at the Manchester Tech Festival Leadership day (which was on 4th November), and my latest podcast episode (released on 31st...
Is this a normal reaction?
TW mention of (potential) cancer. Take care of yourself. Here’s an issue I have: I’m aware that I sometimes react to things in an oversized way. I’m better...
I’m stuck in waiting mode.
Waiting mode is something that can come with neurodivergence, anxiety, depression, PTSD etc. It occurs when waiting for something to happen, normally an...
Resilience requires community
Thank you so much for being a paying supporter of the SCB newsletter <3 As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m currently undergoing some health issues that are...
Free peek: Resilience requires boundaries
Every couple of months I remove the paywall from a post to give my readers a peek behind the curtain, to see the kind of writing you can get weekly if you...
Intellectualising Your Feelings
Just because you’re aware of your patterns, doesn’t mean you can defeat them. This is one of those posts where I have multiple different points I want to...
I don’t want to pay someone to just agree with me
Programming note: I am dealing with some health stuff that will be fine, but is affecting my fatigue levels while I’m going through the tests and everything...
Learning from your successes
Programming note: I am dealing with some health stuff that will be fine, but is affecting my fatigue levels while I’m going through the tests and everything...
Reflection on therapy training
This is a free post, so feel free to forward or share it to folks who might find it useful. This newsletter is entirely reader-supported. You can upgrade to...
Self care for redundancy and job searching
I've been asked a couple of times about resources for dealing with redundancy, or if I have any tips. I always struggle with this, because all the self care...
Manifestation as planning
Some of you will know I'm a lil witchy (I offer tarot pulls as part of my coaching, for example). While I am broadly a sceptic, I basically use tarot and...
What have you thought about and discarded?
I was once having trouble at work. I was working at the intersection of multiple teams and trying to figure out interfacing, continuity, and confidence as...
Resilience requires boundaries
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: boundaries are an integral part of resilience. I think people see emotional and mental resilience still as...
Introducing The Mental Workload Podcast!
I’ve been beavering away over the past few weeks on a new project and I’m finally able to share it! Announcing… The Mental Workload podcast! The Mental...
Super Secret Announcement!
Super secret announcement post for my paid subscribers! I’ve been working on something exciting, which is why this post is a lil shorter than normal for my...
Empathy and bias
This newsletter is free, so please feel free to share it to anyone who might find it useful. The SelfCare Backpack newsletter is entirely reader-supported....
Learning to let go
Thank you for being a paid subscriber <3 This post is a follow up from my last paid post: https://buttondown.email/SelfCareBackpack/archive/on-being-...
From Tech to Wellbeing
I pop a poll on my linkedin every month to see what people want me to write about, and the winner this time was From Tech to Wellbeing, so here we are. This...
On being triggered
Self care has to be deliberate. If it’s not then you’re not fully embedded in the process. That doesn’t mean you need to be thinking ‘I am going to do self...
Accepting Nurturing (free)
Occasionally I remove the paywall from posts to give you all a sneak peek into what you can get if you sign up for a paid subscription. Want to get weekly...
I've passed my exam
Fear and grief still exist, even when the change is something you want, and it’s something I’ve not had much space for. I think it’s still been theoretical...
Empathy wrap up post
I’m doing some virtual events in July! I have a mid-year reflection workshop on July 2nd, and on July 3rd, I’m doing a mid-year affirmations session! I’m...
Rest as restorative
I’ve put a miro template together for this activity. If you want to give it a go for yourself you can see it here: https://miro.com/miroverse/rest-activity-...
Self-empathy
This is the last of the empathy as a skill series. The next free newsletter (out on 19th June) will be a collection of things that didn’t fit in the series...
Accepting Nurturing
How do you feel about being nurtured or looked after? How do you feel if someone does something for you (that you like/enjoy), without asking? I’ve been...
Uncontrolled empathy
This is the second in my series on Empathy as a Skill, and I want to talk about balanced and grounded empathy.Part one is here:...
Self care in crisis
It’s hard sometimes. I see the genocide in Palaestine, Congo, Sudan. I see the cost of living crisis, the rise of facism, the transphobia everywhere. And...
Empathy as a skill, part 1
I asked over on LinkedIn what people wanted to hear me write about in May, and Empathy as a Skill won the poll, so here’s a newsletter on it! There’ll be...
How do you evaluate your evaluation?
How do you evaluate your work? This question was asked to me by my therapy tutor a couple of weeks ago. I was in a practice supervision session - we did a...
You can’t hate yourself into someone you love
‘You can’t hate yourself into someone you love’ ‘If being hard on yourself worked it would’ve worked by now’ Both these things are true, and might even give...
What are your warning signs?
Plan for your bad days on a good day. It’s easier, and is a way to practice being kinder to yourself. By thinking about warning signs and what you can do to...
April is Stress Awareness Month
(I'm sending this out as I don't think it sent a couple of weeks ago, sorry readers, apparently I failed at scheduling emails) The hashtag for this year's...
Let's talk about Mindfulness
Note: I'm not sure I managed to schedule this to go out on Wednesday as normal. Sending this out now as a test, apologies if you receive it twice. I've been...
Free: You're not responsible for other people's feelings
Every so often I remove the paywall from a paid article, to give you all a peep behind the curtain, and to share a piece I'm proud of. That's what I'm doing...
Value-based Self Care
It was 2020, I was still figuring out who I was outside my family, and lockdown was in full swing. In therapy I was spending time unpicking my upbringing and...
Ideal vs actual self
Last week I wrote about my playing with manifestation. I made a to-do list based on ‘where I wanted to be in a week’s time’ and then I sat down and figured...
On manifestation
I’m gonna get a little witchy, if you’ll allow me. Manifesting is such an interesting concept to me. It’s similar to affirmations, in that they both can be...
Ending a therapy session
I’m getting more and more practice in being in the therapy role, having now qualified to the point where in practice sessions I can say ‘I’m a trainee...
Just because you triggered a feeling, doesn’t mean you’re resonsible for it
This turned into a piece on boundaries and closure. TW for talk of estrangement from family I saw a tiktok yesterday, which has since been taken down. It was...
The tension of the moment self care advice
I want to talk about something I think we miss when we give out in-the-moment self care advice, and that's why to do the thing. A disclaimer, or a...