That's cool to see the new Archbishop of Canterbury foregrounding the importance of more holistic healthcare services & addressing 'root causes' within our communities. Adding her voice to this crucial cause. So many people want this to happen- could this year be where we see meaningful progress?

My son captioned this pic as: "I just told Nell a really hilarious joke"😆

Always worth remembering there's a goodness in so many people who want things to be better. And it's not always the obvious routes to 'making a difference'. Quiet connections & conversations behind the scenes matter- like the soil from which life can grow. Soil that can be nourished & cared for.

I do find that i've gradually found a slightly slower, slightly quieter, slightly more spacious way of living these last few months. I get moments when i can see it, & i can see how things are a bit different. It's ongoing. but it feels an important resistance to all the noise & rushing around.

Which political event from 2025* left your flabbers the most gasted? Mine definitely has to be the inexplicable rise of the flag shatters and DOGE failing on both sides of the Atlantic. *Submissions from the UK, the peri-apocalyptic nightmare that is the US and other locales more than welcome.

I'd be glad to see more posts that offer critical thinking on the NHS & healthcare system. Who comes to mind? Who's actively posting on here with interesting thoughts, deeper reflections that get under the surface? Maybe some of the tensions that are around. Hit me with some names please😃

A classic #WTAF? from the NHS. They have spent serious money deploying a tool to solve a problem that doesn't exist: www.theguardian.com/society/2025... ...

We know the importance of kindness, listening, relationships in NHS. These are the foundation for everything else- & they're simple & 'free', right? No! They take time, emotional capacity, & supportive conditions. We need to properly invest, eg the physical & social infrastructure to enable this.

We talk far more about collaborative care, patient engagement etc- sounds progressive & like we've come a long way. But clinical practice still seems so service-centric. Esp for people with complex needs, surely MDTs that actively include the patient are a minimum, yet they seem like hens' teeth.

The report yesterday about poorer respiratory health in poorer people. Is it really a surprise? We KNOW about health inequalities- the impact of poverty, racism, poor housing. This needs social change. Ofc access to a well-functioning NHS matters, but improving health is mostly about social change.

There have been policies for person-centred healthcare for decades. Yet we get constant feedback from the system of substandard care. The response? *A new policy* We never seem to give sustained thought to implementation, resourcing required, & why our approach hasn't worked- what gets in the way?

It’s good to feel a bit of time to slow down & appreciate the people we love, the people who shape us, the people we miss, people who maybe aren't around any more. Maybe some nostalgia for times gone by. A sense of knowing, amidst all the noise, that it’s our relationships that matter.

Christmas Day, 2.15pm. It's 3⁰C, howling wind. Spectacular. Looking west from the Skirrid (Ysgyryd Fawr), towards Sugarloaf Mountain (Mynydd Pen-y-fâl). Love Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

It's simplistic to believe- 'things turn out OK in the end'. There's so much unfairness... But there is something important about knowing in your bones what matters to you & trying to nudge your life towards that. Ofc there are setbacks, painful times. But it's a strength to have an inner compass.

Holding someone in mind can be a way of caring. "I'm thinking of you" If you really mean it, if you feel it, i think this can be an active power for good. I think it matters even if you don't actually tell the person you're doing it... Just holding each other in mind. It's important.

The obscene pay packages of gambling company execs come directly from damaging so many lives. Ofc there's an illusion of customer free choice & individual responsibility, but we all know how it works. Human vulnerability taken advantage of. It's such a striking symbol of a sick society.

Ways we can all support our mental health www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... These lists always say the same things, bc they're about basic human needs. But we need the reminder bc so much in our busy lives pulls us away from these things. Maybe one day the way we live will promote mental wellbeing...

We're looking after a cool dog for the next 10 days. What an adventure! This morning we were out walking in the local woods at 7.00am. We had torches, we heard owls, saw a kingfisher. Amazing. We crossed over the stream (the 'raging torrent') on the stepping stones. So good for the kids. And for me!

In cancer services, when patients are distressed, we don't typically talk about 'mental health problems' & refer people to separate MH services. It's just the human experience of having cancer. The same applies with diabetes, heart failure, crohns, asthma, etc... We need HOLISTIC care as standard.

It's a very good thing that staff experience, burnout etc gets talked about more these days. But... we're still way off in terms of meaningfully intervening. Still far too much emphasis on individual coping & patching up (easier interventions), rather than making work conditions better (trickier).

It's been a real treat to discover board games & cards with the kids. It's one thing we'll sit round the table for. Some tunes, all the snacks. The curent fave is whist. I love the connection & togetherness. And when we have visitors, instead of the usual escape onto screens, we all just join in.

I been making a conscious effort lately to be guided by 'take on less'. I do notice a restless feeling of what might I miss out on, like work projects I'm saying no to, & i do wonder how it's perceived. But having this conscious intention feels good- like there's a bit more space to make choices.

I've got a lot of time for people who bring leadership & calmness, while retaining a down to earth style- people who just talk normally, keep it real, & don't get sucked into all the power trips & ego nonsense.

There's a kind of loneliness that's not about access to social events. It's deeper, more about our inner worlds. It's about a disconnection to self, being a persona, being something you're not. So much drives this disconnection. It's precious to find relationships where you can be your real self.

People living with long term health conditions have to adjust & accommodate constantly. Services should aim to have meaningful relationships with people, be available & responsive through tough times, understand the ongoing frustration & grief. Overwhelmed services can't offer anything like this.

It's the same every Christmas, colleagues swap cards & wish each other well. But this year feels different somehow. Feels like there's a real heartfelt appreciation, a real gratitude for each other's efforts, despite the exhaustion. Thank god for great colleagues- special people.

Feeling emotional & upset when a patient dies is just being human. Including for experienced healthcare professionals. It's not a sign of somehow 'losing it', it's a sign of caring. It's not something to mask, it's something that needs a supportive context, space to reflect & to honour the humanity.

We have another push on 'speaking up' in our hospital, with an emphasis on unsafe work practices & discrimination. Makes complete sense. And there ARE things we can do to support speaking up. But crucially, there's SO MUCH that *works against* speaking up & we'd be wise to be more honest about this.

I'm getting a feeling of things settling for me, after years of things being unsettled. I like the image of one of those snow globes all shaken up & gradually it becomes quiet & still. I want to make my home more homely. Just simple & uncluttered. Feels like an intention to start over, it's good.

If you work with people with chronic, complex conditions... If you're frustrated with how mechanical systems are so ill-suited to complex human challenges... If you've tried & tried to get big institutions to become ‘more human'... Please get yourself a cuppa & read this brilliant, hopeful report.

🔔 New report out today 🔔 🪴 Rewilding Civic Life 🪴 Today at @kinship.works, we’re publishing a Working Paper that pulls together the evidence from Big Local, one of the world’s biggest-ever experiments in revitalising civic life and restoring social capital. 1/n www.kinship.works/publications...

It's hard to be a sensitive person when there's so much going on, so much noise, so much to take in. I sometimes hear sensitivity framed as a bad thing, "I wish I wasn't so sensitive". This is sad. I wish there was more quiet space to make sense of things. I wish sensitive souls were valued more.

Loneliness is on my mind a lot, especially this time of year. I see it & feel it. Maybe we all do when we pause to notice. It moves me seeing people making the effort to include someone- making the effort to care.

Striving for change rarely works I find, though there's a whole industry that claims "all you have to do is..." I see it at an individual level ('be who you wanna be!'), & in claims about 'system change'. I see a LOT of noise about it (& £££s spent on it), & rarely any meaningful growth 1/2

I just LOVE how my boys' hockey club does inclusion. It's not even like they're thinking in terms of inclusion tbh. It's more just a big warm welcome, a lot of care, & slowly getting to know people as people. It's genuine & from the heart. Makes me think how 'Services' are rarely anything like this.

Time & again it's clear that a human need is to be heard & seen- to be with another person who is calm, & not trying to offer advice or solutions. Listening, being there, taking the time- we all need this.

I'm comforted by warmth. I'm comforted by human connection. I'm comforted by people making an effort to help other people out. I'm comforted by caring, creative minds that bring new energy. I'm comforted by being still a moment & thinking of the people I love.

There's a thing I think is going on that we don't have a word for yet, at least I don't. I think it's one of the less noticed themes of 2025, actually.

In contexts where you've been let down & trust is low, where you've banged your head against a brick wall- cynicism is a safe psychological position to take. It's not 'being negative', it makes total sense. Where the context is like this, you can't just 'create safety' with some fancy techniques.

Was moved to hear from a consultant colleague today, "good news" he said. He updated about a patient whose treatment plan has been shaped by recent reflective conversations we've had as a team, & how important it is we make space for this. This isnt just 'nice', it literally impacts patients' lives.

You can feel the burnout & sense of 'just hanging on' in so many experienced nhs clinicians & leaders. Energy & dynamism is coming from younger colleagues. We have to look after & encourage these younger people, give as many opportunities as we can. Survival of the nhs is with them.

I proposed an idea today that everyone working in NHS should have access to regular reflective practice, & it'd need to be organisationally prioritised. I knew as I said it I sounded crazy & it could never happen in reality. But surely what's actually crazy is that we still don't prioritise this?

A key component of 'patient safety' is to enable healthcare people to be more attuned to the possibility of harm. For anywhere to claim to be 'safe' is problematic bc safety is created moment to moment in complex reality. What can help make things safer is for people to be more conscious of harm.

I've lost interest in 'system change' in the NHS. It seems to me a colossal waste of time & energy, & just a path to utter frustration. It's miles better to put energy into actual real relationships. With patients, with colleagues. That's where you can make a difference.

Speaking with someone who's in pain is very hard. You long for something to do or say that'll lessen the pain. Feels so wrong to not 'DO SOMETHING', & it's easy to get drawn into problem-solving. Takes a lot of gentle strength to 'be with', to sit alongside, to seek to understand 'what is it like?'.

The last few years in the nhs it's been exposed how much previously relied on good will- people going above & beyond. I see that a lot less now. And maybe that's fair enough. But the 'transformation' needed, with seemingly no more resource, will take a TON of good will & it just seems so unlikely.

9/ What does all this mean? Physicians are human, and our work places us at risk for serious issues such as social isolation. Efforts to promote physician well-being need to include attention to building community, connection, and belonging to mitigate these risks

By the time people come to us in clinical psychology, it's usually a long way into their healthcare journey. We take time to understand what's going on in the person's life context, & what they need. I think there's a strong case for doing this much nearer the start of a person's healthcare journey.

It's 'Santas on a bike' today in Bristol. A thousand or so motorbike riders riding through town in santa costumes, waving to kids, making everyone smile. A huge convoy of red & white going past. An occasional Grinch. It's BRILLIANT. Brings so much joy & festive spirit. People can be so ace🎅