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There are some clear, relatively straightforward reasons that might prompt you to consider whether you are seeing the right therapist.

Recently I have noticed a trend in the number of people feeling really emotionally hurt by their employer and their workplace. The topic that seems to be bubbling over in the form of a societal anxiety froth is AI and job loss. The headlines about AI ambitions, as well as current progress have left some professions somewhat redundant already. Additionally, in the last few years the rates of redundancies for companies needing to save costs has soared.

Pete Low is a counsellor in Oxford and online What attracted you to become a therapist? To be honest, I never imagined that I would become one. Like many of us who come to this profession later in life, it was my own experience of working through a mental health crisis (around the time of the pandemic) that got me interested. The relationship with my then therapist was a real lifeline during a dark period and it showed me the profound impact that therapy can have.

The workplace has changed dramatically over the past five-10 years. Change is rapidly increasing in size and complexity, we are working on a more diverse and inclusive culture, focusing on employee wellbeing and encouraging everyone to have a voice. To speak up; be confident and be vulnerable, be flexible and be committed, bring the real you to work and feel safe and happy. These changes are fantastic and exactly what we want for workplaces but with them brings new challenges.

Karen Gray is a counsellor and psychotherapist online What attracted you to become a therapist? I have always been naturally drawn to listening to and supporting others, and throughout my adult life people have often felt able to talk openly with me. My decision to become a therapist was strengthened by the experience of supporting my sister through a difficult period with her mental health.

There's a particular kind of 3am I know well. Sometimes it's loud – my mind sprinting ahead of itself, one thought triggering three more, the room feeling too small for whatever's happening in my head. Other times it's heavy – a kind of 3am where thoughts arrive slowly and land hard, circling the same worry until it feels like the only thing that's ever been true. Both are versions of the same problem: sleep not coming easily.

Ten years ago, serial entrepreneur Suzanne Noble and I were new friends. She was 55 and I was 63. We gathered with other older women in Suzanne’s hot tub for laughter but also passionate discussion about our dating lives, our friendships, our work, our travel. At one point, we started talking about how older women were depicted in the media.

Tuppence Middleton is a beautiful, talented British actor, seen on stage, screen and TV. Now 39, she lives in a smart London suburb with her Swedish film director partner and their four-year old daughter. And she has OCD. Scorpions, is a powerful, candid, and even funny, memoir of her life and how it has been overwhelmed by compulsive rituals and obsessive thought cycles. Published in 2025 to excellent reviews, it is now out in paperback.

For those wanting to start a family, a positive pregnancy test should be welcome news, but for many of today’s mothers-to-be the numerous controversies that surround pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood can cause confusion, apprehension, anxiety and unease. Numerous national inquiries have described a maternity service where users are not listened to, heard or believed and in which there is institutionalised racism, prejudice, discrimination and inequality.

Jaquetta Trueman is a counsellor and psychotherapist online What attracted you to become a therapist? My path towards becoming a therapist developed gradually. I first came to therapy early in my career as a graphic designer, at a time when I was struggling in my first marriage. Both of us carried wounds from difficult childhoods, and we were trying to make sense of life, emotions and relationships without many of the tools we needed. Therapy opened the door to a long process of self-discovery.