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If you find yourself telling an AI model or platform things you struggle to say to the people in your life, you are not alone. More and more of us are finding that there is more anonymity in confiding in AI than sharing with humans due to the fact that AI will agree with what you say and will not judge your experiences, views or opinions. However, there is a part of us that must consider where this information we are entering into the keyboards ends up, so it may be worth ask

The Power of Being Heard and Understood I decided to write a small series about the different therapeutic approaches that I either work with or influence me as a therapist in private practice, starting with person-centred therapy. This is the default approach that most training courses in the UK focus on and it laid the foundations for my practice and my personal ethos and approach with clients. At the heart of person-centred therapy is a deceptively simple idea: people bene

If you are in an intercultural relationship, you may have found yourself wondering: “Why do we keep arguing about things that seem so small?” Perhaps it was how your partner spoke to you. The way they responded to a message. How long they expected to spend with your family, who should pay for something, whether you were being affectionate enough, or how you handled a disagreement. To you, the issue might seem obvious, however, to your partner, it may mean something completely

An existential crisis is a period when the assumptions that have previously given your life structure, identity or meaning begin to feel uncertain. It can happen when you find yourself asking questions that are bigger than the immediate problems in front of you: Who am I? What am I doing with my life? What actually matters to me? Is this the life I want? What happens when the things I thought would make me happy don't? An existential crisis is not a mental illness or psychiat

Falling in love with someone from a different cultural, religious, political or family background can be exciting. It can also reveal tensions that neither partner expected. When your partner’s family does not accept you, the rejection can feel deeply personal, particularly when you have made an effort to understand their traditions, values and expectations. For intercultural couples, however, family conflict is often about more than whether relatives “like” a new partner. It

If life feels good right now, why would you need therapy? It is a reasonable question. We often think of therapy as something we turn to when life becomes difficult, when anxiety becomes overwhelming, a relationship breaks down, work becomes unbearable or we simply don't feel like ourselves anymore. But what if therapy didn't have to begin at the point of crisis? What if you could enter therapy whilst things are going well, when you have enough space and emotional capacity to

"I have a good job, a nice home and people who care about me. So why do I still feel empty?" This is one of the most common questions people ask AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot. They aren't necessarily looking for a diagnosis, but instead they're trying to understand why, despite achieving many of the things they once dreamed of, they still feel disconnected, dissatisfied or strangely unfulfilled. If you've found yourself asking questions such as: "Why am I unha

For many intercultural couples, the issue is not a lack of love or commitment, rather it is that each person is bringing a different set of assumptions about communication, family, independence, gender roles, religion, and what a “good” relationship should look like. At first, these differences may seem interesting as you discover your partner’s culture and open yourself up to a different way of thinking. You learn from each other, experience new traditions, and feel broadene

If you've ever found yourself sitting in a beautiful café overlooking the ocean, laptop open, wondering, "Why do I feel so lonely when I'm living the life I've always wanted?" you're far from alone. Many digital nomads and remote workers ask themselves “I became a digital nomad to feel freer. So, why do I feel lonely?” It’s a question more people are asking than ever before. Whether typed into Google or posed to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, many remote workers and digita

If you've ever completed a "love languages" quiz with your partner, you may have discovered that you express and receive love in different ways. One of you might value words of affirmation, whilst the other feels most loved through acts of service or quality time. Understanding these differences can be helpful, but for couples in intercultural relationships, the picture is generally more complex. As a couples therapist working with intercultural and international couples, I'v

If you and your partner are thinking about opening your relationship for the first time, you are not alone. Consensual non-monogamy (CNM), which includes open relationships, polyamory, and other forms of ethically non-monogamous relationships, has become increasingly visible in recent years. Whilst every relationship is unique, research suggests that couples who approach non-monogamy thoughtfully and intentionally tend to have more positive experiences than those who rush int

Over the last decade, the digital nomad lifestyle has transformed from a niche alternative way of living into a global cultural phenomenon. Social media feeds are saturated with images of freelancers working from beach cafés in Bali, entrepreneurs building businesses from Lisbon apartments, or remote workers documenting train journeys across Europe whilst speaking about freedom, self-discovery and escaping the traditional nine-to-five lifestyle. For many people, digital nomad

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “Wait… is this really my life?” as you edge closer to thirty, you’re not alone. That strange mix of pressure, doubt, and overthinking everything isn’t random, it’s what many people experience as an early-life existential crisis, and the stage I went through five years ago. As we’ve discussed so far and we can probably see in our own lives and in those around us, it often hits when the clear path you’ve been following, be it school, uni

From the outside, digital nomad life often looks exciting and free. Working from a cafe in Bali, joining coworking spaces in Bangkok, exploring neighbourhoods in Mexico City or building a temporary routine in Dubai or Lisbon can feel like a dream compared to traditional office life. But many remote workers and expats discover something unexpected after the initial excitement fades. Loneliness. An uneasy feeling of disconnection, which creeps up on you quietly and hard to spot

There are periods in our lives when things appear stable on the outside, yet internally something feels uncertain, disconnected, or difficult to name and describe. You might be functioning well day to day, working, maintaining relationships passively, meeting responsibilities, whilst quietly feeling lost in life. This experience is more common than many people realise. It doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong with you, or that you've made poor choices. Often, it reflect

You've done it, everything looks right on paper. You've worked hard, studied, climbed and proven yourself. You've hit the milestones you once believed would bring security, pride or satisfaction. Maybe you're respected in your field or organisation, financially stable, or finally in the role you used to imagine yourself in. But why does it feel anti-climatic? Why does it feel like something is missing? Where do you go now? For many of us, we are fortunate enough to reach our

Many couples come to therapy saying some version of "We keep having the same argument". or more painfully, "It feels like we're drifting apart and I don't know how to stop it." Often, what's happening underneath isn't a lack of love or commitment, it's a pattern, one that is the most common dynamic I see in practice, which is known in the field as the "pursuer-withdrawer dynamic". Think of it less as a problem caused by either partner, and more like a dance that a couple get

For many travellers and digital nomads, movement begins as freedom. A rejection of routine, familiarity, and the quiet suffocation of a life that felt too small. Travel promises us connection, purpose and a sense of being alive. Yet for many I speak to, in the airport terminals, excursion activities, coworking spaces and the language exchanges, the same themes of meaninglessness and loneliness come up each time linked to a persistent sense of being on the outside. Never quite

At some point in our lives, often at multiple stages as a teenager, turning 30, in our mid-40s and whilst entering retirement, we find ourselves asking questions that feel bigger than what's on the to-do list. We start to ask ourselves Why am I doing this? What is the point? What am I moving towards? These questions sit at the heart of the very human search for meaning and purpose. Whilst they can feel unsettling, it's important to remember that these are normal doubts that

From "New Year, New Me" to "I thought I'd be further along": Why 2026 feels more reflective than revolutionary. For years, the start of the calendar year came with a familiar cultural mantra: New Year, New Me! A phrase heavy with promise, urgency and often pressure. January became a symbolic rebirth, a chance to reinvent, optimise, and finally become the person we believed we should be. But this year in 2026, something feels different... The noise around New Year, New Me