In this episode, Wendy is joined by Jess White the amazing entrepreneur behind Yogi Tribe and the Spark Business Network. Jess has been practising yoga for 25 years and teaching it for 10.

She also works to bring a yoga spirit to business. Jess runs Spark networking events that bring business owners and would-be entrepreneurs together from diverse backgrounds and industries to spark ideas, inspiration, partnerships and more. They are known locally as the High Vibe Tribe. To achieve this, Jess encourages everyone to tap into the power of using yoga principles in all aspects of life, including protecting their mental health.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are many forms of yoga, so it is for everyone, regardless of age, shape or size.

• Yoga was initially developed to help you prepare for meditation, which is one reason it is so good for mental health.

• Yoga is especially beneficial for neurodiverse children and adults.

• Movement is medicine, you can feel yoga healing you as it releases tension and balances your body.

• Yoga makes you much more aware of your body, which improves confidence and focuses you on what you put into your body.

• The Spark community supports and inspires each other e.g. by sharing their goals for the week every Monday, to hold themselves to account.

• At the end of the week, the Spark community shares what they are grateful for. Gratitude is very powerful.

• Try Yin Yoga if you have problems sleeping. Other forms are particularly good for pain relief.

BEST MOMENTS

“I believe that yoga is for everybody, and I also niche in children's yoga.”

“Spark brings a diverse group of business owners together to inspire each other, to network, spark ideas, partnerships, collaborations and learnings.”

“I felt this sense of healing, and I thought, how on earth can just holding your body in some poses do this?”

“Everybody comes to yoga for a different reason.”

“It's an integrative approach, depending on who I've got in front of me.”

“So much can be done via meditation.”

“There's lots of different avenues into learning how to meditate.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://sparkbusinessnetworking.co.uk

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-networking-spark

http://budokon.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga

https://www.yoganatomy.com/ashtanga-yoga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_Yoga

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com.

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Dr. Sally Conway, a clinical psychologist, coach for highly sensitive people, and a qualified EMDR practitioner. Sally, who is herself highly sensitive, explains why HSPs are very prone to people pleasing to the extent that they neglect themselves and why even relatively small stressors can easily overwhelm them.

Sally shares techniques highly sensitive people can use to protect their energy and restore balance to their lives, so they can stop feeling overwhelmed and enjoy life more. She also explains how to access the free guide she has written to help HSPs protect their energy so that they stop helping and pleasing others at the expense of their own wellbeing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• 25% to 30% of the population have high-sensitivity personality traits.

• Being deep thinkers makes decision-making and small talk difficult for HSPS.

• Too much noise and clutter are bad for highly sensitive people. Other environmental factors can also over-stimulate them.

• Sensitive people are usually more emotional, are often big people pleasers and have low self-worth.

• HSP traits also have some big upsides e.g. high levels of compassion.

• Because HSPs are already stressed a lot by day-to-day life, their tolerance for stress is low. It does not take much to tip them into a fight-or-flight response.

• HS people tend to have stronger reactions to trauma.

• People pleasing to the point where you neglect yourself is highly damaging. Sally shares simple ways to reverse this negative behaviour trait.

• EMDR is particularly effective for HS people. Especially those who have issues stemming from their childhood.

• Once you have dealt with trauma it is far easier to grow as a person.

• Find those people who believe in you and in what you can achieve.

BEST MOMENTS

“The key part of any work I do with people is that they feel heard, seen, understood, nurtured, and accepted.”

“We think about things a lot more than other people.”

“People who are highly sensitive are more susceptible to the impact of stressors.”

“Trauma can lead to people pleasing as a way of keeping themselves safe.”

“It's okay to be highly sensitive… there are some positives about it.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://highlysensitivepsychologist.com

https://sallyconwaypsychology.co.uk

https://highlysensitivepsychologist.com

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com.

Wendy has the pleasure of welcoming Alejandro Argüelles Bullón from Gazing Red2Blue, a dedicated mental health advocate, who has also suffered from anxiety.

Alejandro and Wendy discuss why anxiety in men is underdiagnosed, the differences between how men and women process anxiety and which therapies work best for most men. They also discuss dealing with anxiety performance and the use of medications to treat mental health issues.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The genders experience anxiety differently.

• Anxiety in men is still being under diagnosed.

• Men respond well to men only support groups, compassion, the use of masculine language, exercise and speaking to others who have had anxiety.

• Breathing exercises are particularly effective.

• In sport and the workplace men in particular are encouraged not to show weakness, which feeds anxiety.

• Creating a psychologically safe culture in a business is highly beneficial.

BEST MOMENTS

“Men may show anger or irritability or engage in risky behaviours rather than openly discussing their worries.”

“Speaking with others who experience similar struggles for me was extremely powerful.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Alejandro Argüelles Bullón is the Director of Coach and Partner Development at Gazing Red2Blue and a PhD student in Mental Health at Lancaster University. With a background in sports and clinical mental health, he applies psychological principles to boost individual and organizational performance. Alejandro holds an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences from UCL and a BSc in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Loughborough University.

As an EMCC Accredited Coach and Mental Health Mentor, Alejandro has delivered the Red2Blue program globally, helping people perform under pressure. His research uses a realist framework to explore which mental health interventions work best in specific contexts. His contributions to mental health have been recognized with Lancaster University’s Ben Booth Dean Award.

Outside of his professional work, Alejandro is active in mental health advocacy, volunteering with Shout UK and serving on the British Psychological Society’s DCP committee.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-arguelles-bullon

https://hacw.silvercloudhealth.com

Moncrief review - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Caroline Van Diest a senior EMDR trainer and CBT therapist who also uses techniques from IFS and ACT. She explains how EMDR helps people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress from their past that are influencing their nervous system.

Using examples Caroline demystifies EMDR and explains why it works so well and is also effective for neurodivergent individuals.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you are struggling with trauma consider EMDR.
• Any past adverse experience that causes distress now can be at the root of trauma.
• EMDR helps people remember what happened to them and learn how to process that differently so that it no longer causes distress.
• Individuals who are neurodivergent can benefit from EMDR.
• EMDR is effective for a range of conditions, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
• EMDR does not involve hypnosis. The client tracking the therapist’s hand creates bilateral stimulation that enables the brain to process experiences differently and file them away.
• EMDR is not just memory processing.
• Online EMDR works well when it is done right.
• IFS and ACT techniques can easily be integrated into EMDR.
• Many people feel ashamed that they need therapy, they need help to heal from that shame.

BEST MOMENTS

“Really trauma is about how you experience something and how you're still experiencing it.”

“Emotions become less intense, less vivid, images become blurry and filed away. They don’t have the same charge to them.”

“EMDR … can work alongside with and in conjunction with other types of therapies.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Caroline Van Diest is a Senior EMDR Europe Accredited Trainer at Mindsync EMDR Training. With over a decade of experience, she has delivered numerous trainings on adapting CBT and EMDR therapies for neurodivergent clients and presented at EMDR UK Conferences. She co-authored a chapter in Psychological Therapies for Adults with Autism D and appeared on Russell Hurn’s EMDR UK Association podcast.

She leads the Neurodiversity & EMDR Special Interest Group, supporting therapists across the UK. In private practice (Synthesa Therapy), she works with children and adults with neurodiversity to offer passionate, client-centred therapy and supervision.

https://synthesatherapy.nl

https://mindsyncemdrtraining.com

https://www.emdria.org/

Annabel McGoldrick - https://emdrinsight.com/about-annabel

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com

Today, Wendy welcomes Esther Wiskerke, originally from The Netherlands, with a diverse background of working across continents and sectors. Esther has called London home for nearly 20 years and completed her MSc at King’s College in 2015. She is now a Visiting Fellow at London Metropolitan University. As the Founding Director of Symbiosia, her work reflects a fresh vision for conflict resolution and corporate wellness.

They explore her approach to fostering understanding and collaboration in these polarised times.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Pause and understand what is annoying you and why. Then, consciously decide how to respond. Use mindfulness to do this better.
• Recognise your triggers and why you have them.
• Nobody needs the extra stress conflict brings.
• Be truly open to the other person’s point of view.
• Understand what is driving the other person and stop labelling them.
• Consider your response and ask - does it serve me?
• You can still lash out but remember the impact is lasting.
• Micro aggressions are corrosive.

BEST MOMENTS

“Half of conflict resolution is having the ability to see the other side.”

“Even for the person who started it, there is the day after, the longer-term consequence, a ripple effect.”

“Once they were able to see the other person in a different light they started to disarm.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://symbiosia.co.uk

https://linktr.ee.com/symbiosia

https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-wiskerke-symbiosia

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com.

Podcast Description

Welcome to "Don't Get a Therapist - Yet!" Wendy Castelino, a psychotherapist with over 35 years of experience, aims to support individuals with mental health challenges to achieve their full potential. Although Wendy is passionate about providing individual therapy, there are limitations with this approach. This platform, therefore, is dedicated to offering self-help strategies which are designed to enhance personal well-being. The objective is not to discourage people from accessing therapy but to motivate a broader audience to explore therapeutic resources that are simple and effective to use.

This podcast aims to encourage people to make positive choices about therapy and to find a therapy that suits their individual needs. Additionally, the podcast features interviews with individuals who have successfully overcome mental health struggles

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Amber Johnston, a neuropsychologist and Director of Healthy Mind Psychology. She helps people whose brains have been injured to adapt to life after injury. To either fully rehabilitate or if that is not possible to adapt to changes in their behaviour, personality and cognition.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The brain adapts and reshapes itself throughout our entire life.
• When full recovery is not possible people can adapt to their changed mental capacities.
• People´s memory and cognitive functions can be changed by stress.
• Meeting new people has been proven to protect your brain.
• Move your body more.
• Hobbies have many benefits.
• You can´t turn off thoughts, but you can learn to focus your attention.
• Manage stress by noticing and releasing upsetting thoughts instead of dwelling on them.
• Mindfulness takes time to learn.
• Therapy identifies and focuses on the strategies that work for you.

BEST MOMENTS

“They will have changes in their behaviour, in their mood and each one of those things are relevant to different parts of the brain that are not working as efficiently.”

“If storing is the hard part…. they need a lot of repetition or need it in multiple modalities.”

“I also tell people to practice mindfulness, which is being very focused on what's happening around you in the present. “

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.healthymindpsychology.co.uk

https://www.healthymindpsychology.co.uk/product/making-sense-of-pain-ebook

https://www.instagram.com/healthymindpsychologyuk

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com

Podcast Description

Welcome to "Don't Get a Therapist - Yet!" Wendy Castelino, a psychotherapist with over 35 years of experience, aims to support individuals with mental health challenges to achieve their full potential. Although Wendy is passionate about providing individual therapy, there are limitations with this approach. This platform, therefore, is dedicated to offering self-help strategies which are designed to enhance personal well-being. The objective is not to discourage people from accessing therapy but to motivate a broader audience to explore therapeutic resources that are simple and effective to use.

This podcast aims to encourage people to make positive choices about therapy and to find a therapy that suits their individual needs. Additionally, the podcast features interviews with individuals who have successfully overcome mental health struggles.

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Sonia Ahmed a counselling psychologist and EMDR therapist who specialises in trauma and South Asian mental health needs. Currently, her focus is on domestic abuse and honour-based abuse such as forced marriages. She also provides online South Asian mental health training for other mental health professionals.

Sonia explains how being sandwiched between two cultures creates personal dilemmas. As does running the risk of shaming your family and/or being ostracised if you do not live in a certain way e.g. agree to an arranged marriage or continue to live with an abusive spouse.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Many South Asians struggle to get the balance right between doing what is right for them and the need to do what´s right for their family.
• Not shaming your family or community is important in South Asian cultures which can leave some people reluctantly continuing with or entering into a bad marriage.
• Sometimes doing what is right for them means being ostracised from their family and community. Which also strains that person´s mental health.
• Men also get forced into marriages.
• Domestic abuse is a universal issue.
• If you are experiencing domestic abuse you can seek counselling even if you are not planning to leave.

BEST MOMENTS

“Ultimately, if you decide to go on your own, there´s a big risk of being isolated from your family.”

“Just because the family is not with them doesn't mean there isn't other support out there.”

“If you are in a forced marriage, I´m here to support you through that.”

GUEST RESOURCES

info@serepsychology.com and info@southasiantrauma.com

https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.soniaahmed

https://serenepsychology.com

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com

Podcast Description

Welcome to "Don't Get a Therapist - Yet!" Wendy Castelino, a psychotherapist with over 35 years of experience, aims to support individuals with mental health challenges to achieve their full potential. Although Wendy is passionate about providing individual therapy, there are limitations with this approach. This platform, therefore, is dedicated to offering self-help strategies which are designed to enhance personal well-being. The objective is not to discourage people from accessing therapy but to motivate a broader audience to explore therapeutic resources that are simple and effective to use.

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Christine Dunkley who is a consultant trainer of DBT, international author and emotional regulation specialist. She explains how DBT enables you to regulate your emotions. So, you can decrease or increase them when you need to. It is not about ignoring that emotion and its message, its about keeping your reaction in line with the seriousness of the situation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• DBT is a talking therapy that is related to CBT, which is available on the NHS.
• The woman who created DBT had herself recovered from serious mental health issues.
• We need to provide people with the right response at the right moment.
• DBT gives you the tools to regulate your emotions, without switching them off or ignoring the message it is sending you.
• Each emotion produces signature features in the body e.g. tension which you can influence and use to turn the emotion down.
• DBT is delivered by a team of therapists.
• DBT is great for distress tolerance.
• No matter how badly you are suffering, there is always a way out - a path back to true joy.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Regulation is matching the amount of emotion you´ve got to the situation you´re in.’

‘We almost never decrease the emotion to zero because your emotions are so important.’

“You have to change your physiology to actually work on your emotions.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Regulating-Emotion-DBT-Way-Therapists-ebook/dp/B08F6B9JD6

https://www.dbt-training.co.uk

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.wendycastelino.com

https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/

https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798

https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino

ABOUT THE HOST

Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.

Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.

Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.

Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com.