Laughing Geese

13/09/2026

Wonderful to see these photos by Elena Reid of St Olaf Care Home from our creative workshop. It was so lovely to meet people again and their relatives, staff and volunteers. Huge thanks to Nairn Book and Arts Festival for creating the opportunity. And to for the photographs.

10/09/2026

Samaritans

“A few years ago, I was really struggling. I was working 80-100 hour weeks in a very senior role which came with a lot of pressure. Having been away all week, I’d get home at weekends and need to squeeze family time into two days, alongside managing a million and one other things. It felt like a constant treadmill of trying to please everyone else and living up to expectations. I felt tired, burnt out and broken. It was from here that things started to go wrong.”

“Although this wasn’t the reality, I started to feel like I was the root cause of every problem and if I removed myself, that would fix everything. I tried to access support from my GP and found it near impossible. It seemed that because I was managing to go into work every day, I had a nice house and kids, there was nothing to worry about. To them I was just a bit tired, I wasn’t dying.”

“One evening, when I was away on a work trip, I decided I was going to end my life. I headed out and was crossing the road unobservantly when a taxi stopped me. The driver must’ve recognised that something wasn’t right. He got out and started to chat to me, asking if I was OK and what was going on. He then went back to his taxi and got a card with the number for Samaritans. He said something like, ‘you need to talk to someone, so talk to Samaritans.’ I wandered around for about an hour and a half, as I didn’t know what I was going to say if I called. I felt like I needed to have a story prepared.”

“I don’t remember much about that first call. I couldn’t say if the first call was a man or woman I spoke to, but they helped me get through the night. It helped me go to bed and try again the next day.”

“It’s all very subtle and Samaritans don’t really tell you anything, but they listen and enable you to offload – they’re a safety net. Sometimes, I think that’s all people need. At that point I felt like I had nowhere else to go. It’s very hard to say to your wife, we’ve got this wonderful life, but I’m utterly depressed, because it feels like an insult.”

“If I hadn’t called that night, I might’ve just wandered around feeling slightly distracted by my interaction with the taxi driver, but I would’ve been back in that same place a few days later, about to do something drastic. It seems a bit dramatic to say I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that conversation, but that is the reality.”

Thank you so much to Paul for sharing his story for World Su***de Prevention Day and showing that su***de isn’t inevitable and that suicidal thoughts can be interrupted.

10/09/2026

What a fabulous opportunity for practitioners - beautiful ###

🌿 Could experiencing creativity differently also influence the way you work?

For counsellors, therapists, social workers, support workers and other helping professionals, Rooted can offer something a little different from traditional CPD.

Rather than simply learning about creative and nature-based approaches, Rooted offers an opportunity to experience them for yourself.

Across eight weeks, you will encounter grounding, image-making, metaphor, sensory awareness, nature connection and creative reflection while noticing what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a genuinely person-centred creative process.

It can offer space to consider:

How creative invitations can open reflection beyond words
How choice and autonomy can be held within a session
How image, metaphor and natural materials can support exploration
What helps someone feel safe enough to experiment and create
How slowing down, noticing and making can deepen reflective practice

And importantly, Rooted also offers you space for yourself not simply another training course to complete.

Rooted is facilitated by Nicola Kennell, HCPC-registered Art Psychotherapist, with around 25 years' experience of using creativity to support emotional wellbeing, reflection and self-expression.

Rooted is a therapeutic creative wellbeing programme rather than art therapy training, and participation does not qualify anyone to practise art therapy. It may, however, offer valuable experiential learning for professionals interested in bringing greater creativity, reflection and nature connection into their existing practice.

CPD certificates are available for 12 hours Experiential Learning.

🌱 ROOTED - A Deeper Creative Journey Through Nature & the Inner Landscape

8 weeks online | Starts Tuesday 22 September
Tuesdays, 7.00–8.30pm UK time
£240.00

Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp: 07860 867118
www.greentreeartsstudio.co.uk

08/09/2026

The weekly post about Team Leaders was delivered this morning on Linked In Karrie Marshall

In over forty years of privileged human-to-human work, I’m taking some time to go through what I still have of the team leader programmes I developed and delivered since the early 1990s. These included: Managing Stress at Work, Team Leadership Skills, Understanding Approaches ...

07/09/2026

Working with people - particularly people who have experienced some of life’s most challenging situations (illness, trauma, loss) – requires approaches that can ease the process. Signalling safety. Shared effort. Showing compassion. Allowing possibility. It’s an important process for ourselves and others.

I founded Laughing Geese to share the learning through online programmes and books. Geese kept me warm on a park bench, when I was a teenager, on a winter’s day. They huddled around me . In truth they may have been there for the doughnut I was eating – but I loved their presence.

Decades later, they fly over my home every year, and I learned how supportive geese are of one another. When flying in V formation, the front bird breaks through the air, reducing resistance for the birds behind. Each goose benefits from the one in front, sharing the effort of the journey.

After some time, the leader moves back and another bird takes its place, with the strongest and most experienced flyers usually leading. Scientists have found that geese flying in formation can travel up to 70 per cent farther than a single bird flying alone.

Flying in formation also helps the flock stay together. Geese communicate by honking (which sounds like laughing) as they fly, and the white markings on their backs act like landing lights, helping each bird keep track of the others.

If a goose is injured and forced to land, a few geese will remain with it until it recovers. They keep guard and provide social support. Once it is able to fly again, they set off together to find another flock to join.

May that kind of safety, compassion and possibility be yours when you need it.

®

04/09/2026

Good to see the 21 artworks ‘Home-Scape - Expressing a sense of place’ in today for Nairn Book and Arts Festival.

We loved hearing people’s narratives about belonging to a place (or a time) as we created artworks together with families, staff and people living in care homes.

Here are just a small selection of the images:

1 Nairn beach sky at night with shooting star. You can see the sparkly silver streak across the sky.

2 Nairn fisherwoman - the statue is based on one of Nairn’s last fishwives, Annie Ralph (19th century) - the women worked hard and were even said to carry the fishermen to their boats so the men’s feet stayed dry.

3. Nairn beach and bandstand - ‘the sky is generally white’. The sky was carefully cut from linen. ‘ I can’t remember the last time I used scissors.’ The sea and sand were well considered for this piece. The bandstand is a work of art with help from family.

4. Pink houses and Nairn clock tower made with printed cottons. The clock face is made with red felt (‘easier to see the time’).

5. Farmhouse and chicken shed -
‘…. where I used to live. … We had flowers - some went up to the roof.’ All materials were carefully chosen to be as close as possible to the memories.

Thank you to and , the care homes, staff, and families - for the wonderful opportunity to celebrate people’s creativity.

03/09/2026

Creative Health Arts Practitioners.

Creativity is a life force -
It’s where we can connect with another human being - beyond words.

We feel it in a piece of music or a piece of art that makes us stand and stare.

It’s in the guiding of elderly hands to place ripped paper on the gluey background- and in the ‘ohhhhh that’s beautiful’ pleasure of achievement.

Photos of artwork by elders in Nairn for the Nairn Book and Arts Festival. - on display with many more, until Sunday at .

02/09/2026

People who care for family members tell me how relieved they feel when they let go of being the ‘perfect’ carer.

This means accepting ‘good enough’ and recognising that the quality of your presence (your patience, love and understanding) depends on how well you are feeling in yourself. Therefore, your ‘best’ changes from day to day.

So, when caring for someone, make sure you include yourself in the equation of compassion – say ‘Me too’. It’s clear that looking after yourself is going to put you in a better position for caring for someone else. Perfectionism just adds unnecessary pressure.

Strive for excellence if it feels motivating and energising.
If it feels full of resistance and struggle - something is off.
That’s the time to check in and allow ‘good enough’. Protect your mental health.