If you are familiar with Osteopathy already, you likely relate Osteopathy to the treatment of physical ailments, such as back pain, joint pain, and digestive issues. Physical ailments, like these, are common reasons why we tend to reach out to manual therapists, like Osteopaths, to provide us relief from pain. However, Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy (aka., Osteopathy) can provide us much, much more.

Our mind and body are an interconnected system, therefore, when we are experiencing emotional and psychological distress and/or dysfunction, we will also experience impacts to our system (body): sympathetic and parasympathetic tone (autonomic nervous system), heart rate variability, gut health and gut-brain communication, and structural functions – resulting in immobility, tension, and pain. In turn, if these functions and pathways in our body are not restored, they will continue to contribute to the persistence of dysfunction in our emotional and psychological health.

The “Window of Tolerance” is a model that I use very often in my work with clients, to provide an explanation for many common experiences such as, triggers, depression, anxiety, and the impacts of stress. The Window of Tolerance was originally developed by Dr. Dan Siegel (1999), and has been adapted many times by other trauma researchers and therapists since.

This model describes what happens when provides a way to understand how we organize and manage incoming information and what happens when it becomes unmanageable; another way to understand our nervous system responses to our environment and our lives.

This exercise was designed by Ncazelo Ncube (PHOLA) and David Denborough (Dulwich Centre Foundation). The purpose of this exercise is to reclaim your identity and the story of your life through identifying all the different aspects of your identity, including your past, future goals, strengths, and support system.

This is a list of recommended readings on topics such as: trauma and trauma healing, relationships to self and others, self-love, and sexuality, to support you in your self-discovery and healing.

A blog post of holistic approaches for mental (and physical) wellness that include everything from supplements and exercise, Mindfulness and Neurofeedback, to practitioners such as Osteopaths and Acupuncturists, because as a psychotherapist I know that the mind is part of a greater system that needs support in order to function at its best. Engaging in psychotherapy is only one part of the puzzle when addressing concerns related to our mental health. Incorporating and addressing the needs of the whole system is crucial for mental wellness.