From content to a body of work

Hi, I’ve been away from writing for a little while.

At the beginning of this year, my Mum passed away, and honestly, I needed some space to step back, grieve and re-evaluate a lot of things, both personally and professionally.

Over the past few months, I’ve realised I don’t want to create content that simply performs well online anymore. I want to create a body of work that actually means something. Something thoughtful, honest and sustainable. Something that connects the patterns I’ve spent years seeing in therapy rooms, mental health services and in people quietly burning themselves out trying to be “good.”

About two weeks after my Mum passed away, The Good Person Trap™️ concept came to me almost like a lightbulb moment, suddenly connecting so many of the themes I’ve been witnessing ever since I started working in mental health services back in 2010.

The pressure people feel to be capable, easy, responsible, self-sacrificing and emotionally contained. The way over-functioning gets rewarded. The way burnout, perfectionism, eating disorders, OCD, anxiety and trauma can all become tangled up with identity, morality and safety.

I’ve also found the social media space increasingly difficult to be on over time and noticed my own themes of moral scrupulosity OCD becoming more activated within it, the pressure to say the right thing, be perceived correctly, avoid getting things wrong and constantly monitor yourself publicly.

I don’t think many people fully understand moral OCD or how exhausting it can become internally, especially in online spaces where morality and identity are constantly being evaluated in real time.

Eventually, it stopped feeling healthy or sustainable for my brain.

So I’m shifting more of my energy toward Substack, with the aim of writing weekly in some form.

There are now two separate spaces:

• one aimed more broadly at anyone interested in conversations around trauma, burnout, neurodivergence, eating disorders and the pressure to be “good” called The Good Person Trap™️

• and another specifically for therapists and helping professionals called The Good Therapist

I want these spaces to feel slower, deeper and more reflective. Less “content.” More real conversations, ideas and observations from years of working as a therapist, alongside my own experiences of grief, burnout, neurodivergence, rebuilding and trying to live more honestly.

Also, if you’re a newer subscriber, some of the older automated emails and welcome sequences probably won’t make a huge amount of sense right now whilst I transition things over, but I’ll be gradually updating everything in time.

If you’re here, thank you. I have a feeling this next chapter is going to feel much more aligned.

PS. It’ll always be free