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The Stephen Therapy Blog · Straightforward, Useful Reading

Articles to help you understand what may be going on.

I write about the questions people often bring into a conversation: why the mind keeps repeating a pattern, why sleep becomes difficult, how work pressure follows you home and what may help you begin thinking differently.

You do not have to read everything. Begin with the subject that feels most familiar and take what is useful to you.

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Articles on sleep, anxiety, confidence and work
“Start with what sounds familiar.”

Sleep · Anxiety · Confidence · Work · RTT

Featured Article

Civil Service stress at work.

One of the most-read subjects on my website, and one I understand from lived experience, not simply from reading about it.

Difficult managers, constant change, high workloads and the pressure to carry on can follow you long after the working day has ended. This article looks at what that stress can feel like and some practical ways to begin responding to it.

Read the Article

Why this subject matters to me

“After 35 years working in Stockport, I understand that work pressure does not always stay at work.”
Work-related anxiety & stress Career coaching & mentoring

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You do not need to know the perfect label.

Choose the area that comes closest to what you have been thinking about.

Keeping the information useful

Useful articles should stay honest, clear and up to date.

Some articles have been online for several years. I review their wording, sources and links over time so that what you read stays accurate and useful.

Where an older article discusses a service I do not currently offer, I will make that clear and signpost readers to appropriate support.

The full list

All articles.

Newest first. Take whichever one sounds closest to what you have been thinking about.

If You’ve Lived With Anxiety for Years, You’re Not Broken

Living with anxiety for years can feel like a personal failure. It is not. What long-term anxiety does, why it persists and how change can start.

When Men Finally Say: ‘That Sounds Like Me

Why men often cope rather than talk, what tends to happen when they say something out loud, and why you need not be at breaking point first.

Men’s Mental Health: Breaking the Silence

Written for Men’s Health Week: what shapes men’s mental health, the signs to look for in younger and older men, and where support can be found.

Hypnosis for Sleep: Break the Cycle of Insomnia with RTT Therapy

How stress, diet and night-time thinking keep insomnia going, and what hypnosis and RTT therapy do about the patterns holding that cycle in place.

Vagus Nerve: Understanding Its Role in Stress Relief.

The vagus nerve connects the gut and the brain and plays a part in how the body settles after stress. A plain explanation of what it does and why it matters.

Civil Service Stress at Work: Practical Strategies That Help

Support available to Civil Service staff under pressure: stress risk assessments, mental health first aiders, occupational health and breaks.

Learning To Let Go: Strategies for Releasing Emotions

What bottled-up emotions do to you over time, why letting them out can feel risky, and a set of practical steps for starting to release them.

Stop Smoking with Hypnotherapy/RTT Therapy

What keeps the smoking habit in place beyond nicotine, the part that mindset plays in it, and the practical steps that hypnotherapy and RTT use.

The power of affirmations in RTT

How affirmations are used in RTT, where they come from within a session, and the part the personalised recording plays in the weeks afterwards.

Stoptober Your journey to a healthier you

What the Stoptober challenge asks of you, how hypnosis sits alongside it, and the differences between solution-focused hypnotherapy and RTT.

Letting go of control: how RTT can help

Where the need for control comes from, what holding on costs over time, and how RTT approaches the fear of letting go, with one client story.

Rebuilding confidence: RTT for middle-aged women

Why self-doubt can persist into middle age, the common myths about self-esteem, and what RTT looks at when confidence has been low for years.

Why am I stressed? Where chronic stress comes from

Where chronic stress comes from at work, at home, in lifestyle and in past experiences, and why wellbeing at work matters to employers as well.

Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder

What social anxiety disorder is, its causes and its symptoms, self-assessment questions to work through, and the kinds of support available.

Empty nest syndrome when your child starts university

What empty nest syndrome can feel like when children leave for university, why it often hits harder than expected, and strategies that help.

How hypnosis and RTT approach long-term pain

Why pain is more than physical, how the body holds on to it, and the way hypnotherapy and RTT approach pain that has been there for a long time.

People pleasing at work and what it costs you

What trying to please your boss can cost you in sleep, in relationships and in time at home, and how RTT approaches the habit sitting behind it.

Zen in 5: Embrace Mindfulness with Just 5 Minutes a Day

A five-minute approach to meditation for people who feel they have no time for it, the common myths about it, and how to build a daily habit.

Navigating the UK Job Market After 50

Looking for work over 50: how the job market has changed, showing your skills online, networking, and making use of what the gig economy offers.

How RTT Therapy Can Provide Relief for Depression

An introduction to Rapid Transformational Therapy and how it is used with people experiencing low mood and depression, written for anybody considering it.

RTT vs counselling: what is the difference?

The differences between a counsellor and an RTT therapist, how each of them works in practice, and what that tends to mean for time and cost.

A thriving work environment – Well-being at work

Practical steps employers can take on staff wellbeing: personal development, work-life balance, boundaries, recognition and keeping people engaged.

Sleep after 50: how RTT can help

Sleep often changes after 50. What tends to shift, why bedtime can become something you dread, and how hypnotherapy fits alongside the rest of your routine.

Breaking the Chains of Anxiety

How anxiety that has lasted for years can trace back to childhood experiences and the beliefs formed at the time, and what an RTT session looks at.

How bullying and harsh words affect adult confidence

How harsh words at home and bullying at school can still affect adult confidence, and the self-care and therapy options that are open to you now.

Mindset change is possible

The different types of mindset, what shapes the one you have, and practical ways that mindfulness and meditation can be used to begin changing it.

Starting self-employment in Greater Manchester

A guide to self-employment in Greater Manchester: testing your idea, the legal side, writing a business plan, finding funding and marketing.

Mindfulness – Life Can Change

What mindfulness actually involves, how it helps with the feelings tied to anxiety and stress, and simple ways to practise at work and home.

Golden Career Opportunities: Mastering the Job Market After 50

Job-hunting advice for the over 50s: keeping up with technology, networking, freelancing, staying current, and negotiating pay with confidence.

Using mind mapping to plan your career

If you feel stuck in your current job or unsure about your long-term goals, mind mapping is a simple visual way to think through what you actually want next.

Gut Health and Mental Health: The Link

How the gut and the brain affect one another, what diet has to do with mood, and why the body ends up craving particular foods at particular times.

The Power of the Subconscious Brain and RTT Therapy for Healing

What the subconscious mind stores, why experiences from childhood keep their hold on adult life, and how RTT therapy sets about working with them.

Anger and irritability in men as they get older

Why anger and irritability can build in men as they get older, what often sits underneath it, and how hypnotherapy approaches those feelings.

I am enough: what to do when you never feel good enough

Four things to work on when you never feel good enough: self-compassion, the way you speak to yourself, taking compliments and your happiness.

Rules of the Mind: Mindset change is possible

The principles behind how the mind works, why they keep people stuck in the same loops, and what that means when you want to change a habit.

Overcoming the Fear of Flying

Fear of flying is a learned response, not a lack of courage. What it can feel like, where it often begins, and how hypnotherapy approaches it.

Mental Health at Work and Office Politics

A light-hearted walk through an ordinary office day back after lockdown, and the ten-minute meditation habit that can break into that cycle.

Reading can be a useful beginning

If something has sounded familiar, we can talk it through.

You do not need to diagnose yourself or choose the perfect service before contacting me. Tell me what has been happening and ask anything you need to ask.

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