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Painting Harbour Boats

on July 22, 2026

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Harbour Boats, Oil on Canvas Board

Creative Arts

Location: Christchurch, UK

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Riding the Seasonal Waves With Children (Ten ways to support children who struggle with Christmas)

Why my therapy room stays undecorated at Christmas. "In my therapy room, Santa and Rudolph stay all year round". Every December, I find myself feeling just a little overwhelmed. At the risk of sounding like a festive grinch… why do we cram so many extra events, gatherings, and expectations into one month? It’s already a season full of pressure, and for many people—children and adults—Christmas isn’t a joyful swell of celebration. It can feel more like a storm surge. As someone who works with children, I’m very aware of how this season affects their nervous systems. And this is one of the big reasons I don’t decorate my therapy room for Christmas. Not because I don’t value the magic of the season—but because I want my space to feel like a calm, steady shoreline, especially when the wider school environment becomes a sensory tidal wave. Christmas Feelings Arrive Like Waves Living by the sea, I often think about emotions like the ocean. Some days the waves are gentle and ...

The Ocean Inside Us: Finding Joy Through Play

What Play Teaches Us About Joy, Depth, and Connection Recently I listened to a podcast by Mel Robins on happiness, and something she said stopped me in my tracks. She spoke about the two types of happiness identified in the long-running Harvard Study of Adult Development: Hedonic happiness – the joy, pleasure, and enjoyment we feel in the moment Eudaimonic happiness – the deeper sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfilment As I listened, I realised how closely this links to the work I do every single day. The Ocean Metaphor I’m writing this while looking out at the sea, and Mel Robins’ ocean metaphor landed beautifully for me. If happiness is an ocean, then: • The depths represent our eudaimonic happiness—our inner sense of purpose, belonging, and meaning. • The waves on the surface represent hedonic happiness—pleasure, fun, excitement, and joy. When we splash in the waves, we’re experiencing those bursts of enjoymen...

Helping Children Process the Loss of a Pet - The Day the River Went Out and Never Came Back

The Day the River Went Out and Never Came Back – Helping Children Process the Loss of a Pet In loving memory of our cat, River and our dog, Kuja. Today is remembrance day and yesterday, our family cat, River, was hit by a car and died. The house feels different now — quieter, emptier. River was woven into the rhythm of our days: morning greetings, evening cuddles, the soft weight at the end of a bed. As I sit with grief, I’ve been reflecting on how we help children process the loss of a pet — something teachers, parents, and therapists often encounter but sometimes brush past too quickly. Many children I work with want to talk about pets they lost long ago — what they meant to them, how they miss them, where they think they’ve gone. It’s a powerful reminder that grief in children is real and lasting, even when adults assume they’ve “moved on.” What Is Grief? “Grief is the normal and natural emotional reaction to loss or change of any kind. Of itself...

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