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News release • wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy
Issue date: Monday 26 November 2007
Christmas: a ten-point survivor’s guide
If you really love Christmas then possibly all you need is a plan to help you get the most out of the time available. But for some people, Christmas can feel like a minefield of potential family explosions, which is why Lesley Murdin, chief executive of the charity wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy, has come up with a ten-point survivors guide.
1. Planning doesn’t just mean peeling sprouts
If you regularly row with your father or mother-in-law, for example, then identify your flashpoints and how you might want to react differently to avoid the usual arguments, or try and ensure that you’re never alone with them - bring others into your conversation or into what you’re doing.
2. You’re not the only one
If you think you’re going to feel isolated at Christmas, there’s a fair chance that somebody you know may feel the same way. Why not get together – if not face to face then perhaps by phone.
3. Share your feelings
If it’s not possible to talk to a friend then try keeping a diary over the Christmas break. Sometimes writing things down can help you feel more in control and get things out of your system.
4. Recognise when stress is mounting
If you start to feel yourself getting tense, then take some time out – even just leaving the room can help.
5. Escape into the great outdoors
For a longer break “just off to walk off the Christmas pud” is all the excuse you need for a change of scene. And it really can lift your mood to do something physical.
6. Count the hours
Sometimes you just need to sit it out – but remember it’s only for a few hours or at most a couple of days. It will soon be over.
7. Reward yourself
Recognise the fact that Christmas may be more for your parents’/children’s benefit than for you – so plan a treat for you, or you and your partner, at the end of January and give yourself something to look forward to.
8. Avoid financial problems
It really is the thought that counts. So if money’s an issue spend less money but a bit more time on personalising the wrapping. Or suggest a family limit, of £5 or £10 per person per present for example; or presents only for the under 16s.
9. Give the gift of charity
If you get frustrated with consumerism you may prefer to give gifts such as a goat or safe water for 25 people (both from Oxfam) or help wpf provide counselling or psychotherapy to somebody on a low income.
10. Then put your mind to next year
If Christmas has bought up many of the same issues, and left you feeling bruised or confused then counselling or psychotherapy could help you understand what’s at the root of it, change your behaviour patterns and help you develop your own choices and way forward.
Deciding to explore whether counselling or psychotherapy might help could be the best New Year’s resolution you’ve ever made – and could fundamentally change the way you approach next Christmas!
wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy provides high quality therapy tailored to each individual as well as training with a wide range of accredited training programmes for counsellors and psychotherapists. The organisation aims to make counselling and psychotherapy affordable, working on a sliding scale of fees according to income, with an initial in-depth assessment interview before recommending which approach may be most appropriate:
- One to one open-ended once weekly psychodynamic counselling
- One to one short term psychodynamic counselling: 12 weekly sessions with an agreed and specific focus
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): 6-8 individual weekly sessions addressing thinking patterns and styles
- Group psychotherapy
- Long term intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy: 2 or 3 times weekly individual psychotherapy.
wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy is the largest charitable provider of counselling and psychotherapy in England, seeing around 500 people a week at its Kensington site alone.
More information on the charity’s website: www.wpf.org.uk or Tel: 020 7361 4803/4
Ends
Wordcount: 674
More media information:
Lesley Warner, wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy
Tel: 020 7361 4827 ; Mobile: 07906 813694
Email: lesley.warner@wpf.org.uk
www.wpf.org.uk
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