A Warm Welcome

“One can begin so many things with a new person! - even begin to be a better man.”

― George Eliot, Middlemarch.

Our very first blog - counselling and a bit about me

Welcome to the Polaris Therapeutic Services blog! I'm excited to share my thoughts on mental health, counselling, and the journey we all take toward growth and self understanding.

It's Laura here, and I'll be trying to send out regular blog updates. I thought it'd be great to discuss a variety of topics. I'd like to tell you more about counselling as a profession, the ways that I like to work, and mental health in general. But for today, it seems sensible to offer an introduction to myself, and to Polaris Therapeutic Services.

(Imagine that's me! Working hard or hardly working?)

Me

Hello. My name's Laura (she/her), and I created Polaris Therapeutic Services.

I founded Polaris as a welcoming space to share my knowledge, connect with clients, and support you on your journey. With years of study and hands-on experience, my goal is to provide guidance and a space for meaningful growth. As a queer, neurodivergent woman, I bring a unique perspective to my work—one shaped by both professional training and my own lived experiences navigating this big blue marble.

I take an integrative approach to my counselling work, which means that I can work flexibly, and tailor my approach with each client I meet, in the way that best suits them. I'm excited to explore and share this with you more in a future blog, because I could talk about counselling theory for hours. Alongside my work as a counsellor, I work for a mental health crisis service as a peer to peer support worker, and I like to incorporate some of what I have learned there in my therapeutic practice too.

Polaris

When I first came to counselling myself, it was because I had suffered a loss that affected my sense of identity. I was at university, anxious, and I felt isolated from myself and all the things that had once made sense to me, and there came a point where this became unbearable, and something had to change. I went to counselling.

Now, as a professional, I recall this feeling of lost-ness, and my initial experiences of counselling. In my teen years, my neurodivergent brain chose the hyperfixation of boat building. I had decided I was going to build a ship and circumnavigate the world, and as part of my research, I learned that, in the old days, sailors would navigate using the North Star, which is the brightest star in the sky. I chose to name my practice after this idea, because, like the ancient sailors, sometimes all we need is some light in the darkness to guide us through stormy weather.

Thank you!

I think, for today, that is probably just enough to say hello and welcome to our site. My plan is to release blogs weekly, covering a variety of subjects, and I'm looking forward to the mental exercise. If there's anything you would like to read about, or if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out through the website, or social media! Wishing everyone all the best for the next week and beyond :)

Laura :)