Blog • Valentina Sartore

Valentina Sartore

Psychotherapy in Edinburgh and online

A place to share reflections, tips and research
on mental health & wellbeing

For those who find all of the above as interesting as I do! I’m always open to suggestions so please let me know of any topics you’d like to hear more about at hello@valentinasartore..com

Crisis Support Resources in the UK
by Valentina
November 10, 2024
Please be aware that I am an independent practitioner and I am therefore unable to provide crisis support. Please click here for a list of crisis resources.

Come & share your thoughts!

I regularly post on Instagram and I enjoy interacting with people on there, you’re welcome to join me!

valentinasartore_psych

🎓 MSc Psych Therapies
👩🏻 Helping kids, teens & young adults figure out life
✨Accepting new clients
📍Online & Edinburgh
✉️ hello@valentinasartore.com

💕 “How are you feeling?” might seem like a

💕 “How are you feeling?” might seem like a simple question, but the reality is that we can spend a lot of time avoiding giving it a real answer. “Sit with your feelings” is a piece of advice that has been thrown around recently, but how do you actually do it?🌈 A great place to start is asking yourself how you really feel, and taking some tome to really identify and name the feeling. The feelings wheel (Dr. Willcox) is a useful tool for this! It can be used when feelings are unclear, confusing, or with children who may not yet have the vocabulary to really explain how they feel.✨ You can ask yourself questions such as
- What’s the first emotion that comes to mind when you think your how you’re feeling? (Identify the core emotion in the centre of the wheel);
- Can you be more specific? More outwards - what’s the feeling that most aligns with yours?
- Where in your body does this feeling sit?
- How strong is this feeling? How intense?
- What does it make you want to do?
- What might be causing you to feel this way?As you move through these questions, you are doing exactly that - sitting with your feelings!
Understanding and getting in touch with your emotions, and labelling them, is a huge first step towards increased emotional literacy and better emotional regulation. 😊Image credits: bearable app#emotionalregulation #emotionalliteracy #feelingswheel #feelyourfeelings #cbt #mentalhealth #therapy

👦🏽 This is probably one of the questions I g

👦🏽 This is probably one of the questions I get the most when working with young people in therapy - do I need to tell their parents about what we discuss in session?
I hope this post helps in answering this question - as always, it’s a little more complicated than ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The key takeaway here is that balancing safeguarding worries and keeping parents informed, with protecting the child’s confidentiality, right to choose and the therapeutic relationship is at the heart of it! 🫶🏼#youngminds #cyptherapy #childrensmentalhealth #cbttherapy

🚨Sensory overload can happen when your brain ge

🚨Sensory overload can happen when your brain gets overwhelmed by too much sensory input—lights, sounds, smells, textures, etc. It’s like your brain’s filters stop working, and suddenly, everything feels just too much.We often talk about it in the context of neurodivergence. However, did you know sensory overload is also linked to anxiety (regardless of whether you are neurotypical or neurodivergent)?
Anxiety puts your body and brain on *high alert*, triggering your fight-or-flight response (in short, preparing your body to fight whatever threat it perceives, or to run away from it!). This means your brain is constantly scanning for potential threats, which heightens your sensitivity to everything around you. Sounds might seem louder, lights brighter, and even small physical sensations—like the feeling of your clothes or a breeze—can become overwhelming. Your brain is already working overtime to manage the anxiety, so when sensory inputs pile up, it struggles to process them all, leading to that overloaded, “shut-down” feeling.
—> have you ever experienced this before?#mentalhealthchats #sensoryoverload #sensoryoverwhelm #anxiety #neurodivergence #therapy #mentalhealth

🗝️ It’s happening! On Friday I finally got

🗝️ It’s happening! On Friday I finally got the keys to a shared space where I’ll be able to hold face to face sessions starting next week. Exciting ✨📍Physis Scotland, 22 Drumsheugh Gardens EH3 7RN EdinburghI’ll be there Friday afternoons - hopefully that suits the after-school requests I often get from young people looking for therapy!

❄️ Last year, my very first resolution for 202

❄️ Last year, my very first resolution for 2024 was to start the year slowly. No rushing into big plans or trying to ‘fix’ everything in January. Just allowing myself to ease into the year at my own pace! I felt I really needed this after being quite overwhelmed over the Christmas holidays, as I pressured myself to think about the year ahead, all I wanted to achieve and all I felt I “should work on”.❄️ So, at the start of 2024 I decided to commit to have a slow and reflective January and that approach really worked for me. It reminded me that winter is a time for rest and reflection, not blooming or thriving—that comes later, in spring. It helped me change my own narrative around January and fight the need to hit the ground running.❄️ As I start January 2025 by enjoying my last few days off, I feel drawn to making that same commitment again for the next few weeks. Taking it slow. Letting myself settle into 2025 more gently. Moving at winter’s pace.If this resonates, it might be worth giving it a go. 🙂#gentlejanuary #startslow #easeintotheyear #selfkindness #winterselfcare #slowliving #restandrecharge #mindfulstart #takeitslow #winterrest #cozyvibes #intentionalliving #selfcarematters #mentalhealthmatters #mindfulness #mentalwellness #selflove #healingjourney #mentalhealthsupport

📝Reflecting on 2024: December is always a very

📝Reflecting on 2024:
December is always a very busy month but I always try to carve out some time to reflect over the year just passed as I find it quite a nice way to celebrate the highs, be kind to myself for any lows, and set some intentions for the new year.Some questions I like to ask myself (and I normally journal about):
* What did I learn about myself this year? How have I changed and grown?
* What was the biggest challenge this year? What have I learned from it?
* What brought me the most fulfilment and alignment this year? (In my professional & personal life)
* Who was alongside you this year, that you’d like to thank? How did they make your year better?Pictured here is a highlight of my year - my trip to Peru 🇵🇪
What’s yours?#2024reflections #journalingprompts #2024 #selfreflection #journaling

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