Leaving Mental Health Charity, Second Step…

Today was my last working day working as Second Step’s Reflective Practitioner and Psychological Therapist for PIE (Psychologically Informed Environments).

It’s been a pleasure working along side such a dedicated group of people and although, for me it’s the right time to move on to the next challenge. It’s got me thinking about the significance of endings, and the importance of doing them right.

I’ve always liked to look at endings as a kind of new beginning. 2019 has been a year of change and transitions for me. It’s held a lot of endings and new beginnings for me – and for a lot of the people I’ve worked with.

Although I do some ‘open ended’ work with private clients and supervisees. Counselling is often time limited. It’s a relationship which is working towards an ending. The end of the ‘work’ often leaves me feeling happy for the client and excited for them and the next stages of their lives. But there’s more to endings than this…

However, endings can be complicated. Some people find endings hard full stop, maybe preferring to avoid them all together. Others morn the loss linked to the ending and are fearful of what’s next. For some, endings are an exciting opportunity… Most people experience a mix of all of these and (maybe) more.

Soon i’ll be publishing a post I’ve been working on about endings in Counselling that explores this in more depth. But for now, I want to acknowledge that all endings are significant.

For me and personal endings, it’s the funny things that catch me off guard. Like having to hand in my ID badge to be destroyed. It made the ending feel far more real and final.

Thank you to all the staff who made my time there feel so special, and thank you for the flowers!