Here's an interview with our lovely team member Roxy. She is a qualified counsellor with a specialist focus on eating disorders, working at our Poundbury Therapy Rooms.
Here we find out a little bit more about Roxanne and her passion:
What’s your name, and your role within the Wellbeing Practice team?
Hi, my name is Roxanne. I joined the Wellbeing Practice Poundbury Counselling Team in September 2022.
I’m a Dorset bread lady. Brought up on a small holding farm surrounded by animals and the freedom of our beautiful countryside. It was a great place to grow up.
I joined Wellbeing Practice after qualifying as an integrative counsellor.
What’s that? You may ask.
Well, in a nutshell, it means; Integrative Counselling is a combined approach to psychotherapy that brings together different elements of specific therapies. Integrative therapists take the view that there is no single approach that can treat each client in all situations.
Rather, each person is considered as a whole and counselling techniques are tailored to your individual needs and personal circumstances.
I have also recently qualified to specialise and work with sufferers of Eating Disorders
and Disorderly Eating.
Currently, I work face-to-face counselling at Poundbury working with people with chronic
anxiety issues caused as a result of prolonged loneliness and difficult persistent life
demands, such as full-time caring.
I will be broadening my clientele at Wellbeing Practice and I’m super excited to announce an upcoming workshop offering support for family, carers and friends of those with Eating Disorders or Disorderly Eating very soon.
Alongside this work I also work in a secondary school, supporting young people ages 11 to 18 with their various challenges.
How did you get into your area of specialism/practice?
After many years of working holistically with troubled families and supporting them to access the services they need. I come to feel passionate about therapy and counselling realising its true worth.
I felt hugely frustrated with the lack of service available for adults' and children’s mental health. I believe that a counsellor should be readily available, just like visiting your Doctor. (Not that that is very easy these days!)
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be offered a safe confidential space? Where the time is all yours. Where someone will truly listen to you, and give you their undivided attention to understand your world with no judgement, no preconceptions, no influences, and no opinions, just all about you and how you view your world. Whenever do we get that in life, other than with a counsellor? The problem doesn’t have to feel huge or be affecting how you manage your world. It is just as important to share the niggles before they build into something bigger. Being in the presence of a therapist who ‘gets it’ can help to undo and straighten out the knots of the mind.
I offer Integrative therapy that helps to create a healthy alliance between mind and body - empowering clients to start setting goals and practising new behaviours that will enable them to move beyond their limitations and discover greater life satisfaction. My Integrative therapy is tailored to the client's wants and needs. It’s unique to each individual and most importantly is client lead.
It is through this work that it came to my attention the increase in Eating Disorders and Disorderly Eating. Where specialised support is difficult to find in our rural Dorset. This is when I decided to become more educated to offer unique skills and nurture through therapy to those that struggle with such disorders, whether diagnosed or not.
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What Roxy's clients say therapy feels like
Roxy!
Eating disorder specialist
What does ‘wellbeing’ mean to you?
Wellbeing to me means looking after my physical and mental wellbeing (of course these are totally linked together). To keep myself well both physically and mentally I like to spend time in nature, on walks with the dog and helping on the farm. I like to be around loved ones and meet and chat with friends, but I also really appreciate time on my own. To be well takes conscious effort and time, which at times can feel difficult. I think it's important to recognise ‘who we are’ and ‘how we are’ at different times and seek support if we fall short of understanding or accessing this.
What does ‘happiness’ mean to you?
Ah, Happiness. Great question! I think we have an idea of happiness, but is it real? Is it maintainable? Or is it just something that strikes us in a moment and flits away again?
I love happy occasions, moments where you feel proud, or witness someone else’s beam of
joy, there are lots of happy moments, but they really are fleeting moments.
I’d rather focus on contentment – I mean that’s what most of us can relate to, right? If we
focus on happiness we struggle to pinpoint them and that in itself can feel sad. But if we
talk about contentment then that makes me feel good.
I beam with pride when my son achieves something that he is proud of.
I feel good when I’ve finished the housework and can relax in a tidy clean space.
I feel energised when I dance and am foolish to music.
I feel uplifted when I meet with a friend and we inspire each other in the news and chit-chat.
I beam when I see someone else make positive changes and breakthroughs.
I feel wholesome when I’m on a walk in the countryside.
Yeah - Contentment makes me feel happy.
What’s the most common thing that you help people with, or that people come to you struggling with?
Gosh, that’s a difficult one to answer. Everyone has such unique factors and characteristics it
feels wrong to generalise.
I see and hear a lot of anxiety and this can show itself in many shapes and sizes, mostly based on fear. The existential crisis I’d say
Existential therapy is one of the most commonly used so far in my journey. It is about helping clients make sense of their place in their world: to find alignment between societal, cultural and individual expectations. It’s a very client-focused, empowering way of working.
Depression
Loneliness
Lack of belonging
Lack of self-worth and self-esteem.
Disorderly eating
Anger
Exhaustion
Loss/Bereavement.
Trauma new and old
Issues with attending school
Family issues and break-ups
Change
Self-harm
Loss of former self
Lack of motivation and meaning
And now I’m super excited to start my journey helping those with Eating Disorders (ED) and
Disorderly Eating (DE).
When I say Disorderly Eating I include those that overeat (you don’t have to binge, purge or
fit any of the eating disorder criteria). I think overeating and being overweight pose a
multitude of other mental health factors for many, that only therapy can truly get to the core of. ‘Let’s get the grit out of the womb, rather than popping a temporary plaster over the top’.
On the subject of ED & DE, I also think it’s important that carers/family and friends get
educated and feel supported in their important role. This may be with personal therapy.
The team at Wellbeing Practice are planning workshops to deliver just this for these important people.
Give me 3 words to describe your work
Individual
Passionate
Real
We all know health & wellbeing is a balance of many different elements, but if you could boil it down to ONE golden nugget of wisdom what would it be?
Being grateful every day. Because there is always something to be grateful for. We sometimes can’t help but get bogged down with negativity that we forget the celebrations, the love, the small gestures etc. If we’re not careful the positive things, however small, can pass us by.
When it comes to wellbeing do you practice what you preach? How do you practice self-care and good wellbeing habits in your own life?
Do any of us achieve this all of the time?? I don’t think so. It’s difficult. Life throws so many
curve balls that sometimes we’re just not quick enough to dodge and it knocks us about. I’m
human like us all, I get knocks, but what I do is recognise what makes me feel better, what is
looking after myself and what things I feel grateful for. And for this, I am thankful and I do practice what I preach.
On the days I can’t be bothered to take good care of myself, it’s ok because tomorrow is a
different day.
Do you have a morning routine and if so, what is it?
In general, I am not a morning person. On odd occasions, I will bounce out of bed and do a
quick 20-minute workout before breakfast. But mostly I’m kidding myself that I’ll do that. I like a large cup of tea and I always have breakfast.
Are you aware of any trends in society or social media that you think are beneficial?
Social media can be so cruel in many ways. There of course are positives but with the
problems I see I can’t help but feel saddened by the false, cruel influential world of social
media that impacts most of us on some level.
The world always needs more love and kindness, can you tell us about something or someone you love?
I have a 9-year-old boy. He is my world. I don’t always feel joy from his behaviour but I so very love him and all that he stands for. For that, I am very grateful.
Wellbeing Practice is based in Poundbury, Dorset - where is your favourite place in Dorset & why?
I can’t tell you my favourite place because I am selfishly keeping it as secluded as possible. I
will tell you it’s a hill surrounded by woodland. It has a magical and therapeutic feel. I love
woodland sounds and smells and this place wraps up feelings of ‘contentment’ perfectly.
If someone is struggling with their mental health and everything feels overwhelming, what do you suggest is the best first step?
Don’t put it off – find someone you trust to talk it through with. Even better if you can access a counsellor and allow yourself to feel the emotions in the safety of a professional.
Thank you Roxy for this excellent insight.
If you're interested in reaching out to Roxanne or looking for wellbeing support that is accessible to you, contact the team at hello@wellbeingpractice.co.uk or call 01305 263285.
Make sure you're on our email list if you want to keep up to date on the events and workshops. Roxy will be offering on disordered eating workshop at our upcoming Open Day and more!
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