Hi 👋🏼
Happy New Year - a gentle moment to pause and say hello.
If today is your first day back at work, welcome to the club. Go softly with yourself. Starting again can feel heavier than we expect.
If we haven’t crossed paths before, I’m Amy - psychotherapist, counsellor and very much a human trying to live a fuller, kinder life, just like you.
2025:
A year of deepening, and of taking up more space.
I leaned more fully into the work I care most about: self-worth, inner child healing, relationships and changing patterns we didn’t choose. I worked with some incredibly brave clients, grew my practice in ways that finally felt aligned, and found myself enjoying showing up here more honestly than ever.
Outside the therapy room, I began reclaiming parts of myself that had been quietly waiting. I joined a netball team and a book club, picked up my saxophone again, and rediscovered my creative side through pottery and sketching. It felt like remembering myself - slowly, imperfectly and with a lot of joy.
There was grief, growth, vulnerability, creativity - and plenty of cups of tea along the way.
2026:
I’m stepping into this year with even more intention and permission to take up space.
More creativity, more saying yes to opportunities that feel aligned (including media work), and more trust in what feels good for me. I want to keep slowing down where it matters, while also getting stronger - in my body, my boundaries and my sense of self. (And yes… possibly even putting my bellybutton piercing back in.)
I’ll continue offering in-person therapy in Richmond alongside online work, and I’m really looking forward to growing this community - here and beyond - in ways that feel human, grounded, playful and real.
Thank you for being part of this little corner of the internet.
It genuinely never feels like I’m doing this alone when you’re here 💛
I hope 2026 brings you more of what you need, and the courage to take up space where you once felt you couldn’t.
Amy x
#therapistsofinstagram #newyear #welcome #RichmondTherapist #abbtherapy
What is creative therapy and inner child work - really?
A lot of people come to therapy already very self-aware.
They can explain their patterns, their childhood, their relationships,
but something still feels stuck.
Creative therapy helps when talking alone isn’t enough.
It uses imagination, analogy and gentle visualisations to access parts of you that learned how to cope long before you had words for it.
Inner child work isn’t about blaming the past.
It’s about meeting the younger parts of you that learned:
to be good instead of honest
to stay quiet instead of asking
to criticise yourself to stay safe
And offering them something different now.
This work is slow, compassionate and relational.
You don’t need to be creative.
You don’t need to relive anything.
You don’t need to perform.
Just willing to be curious.
If this resonates, you’re very welcome here 🤍
#ABBtherapy #integrativetherapy #innerchildhealing #creativetherapy #therapyexplained
If you’ve landed here because something in you is tired of performing, shrinking, or being the version of yourself you had to be growing up… I’m really glad you’re here.
I’m Amy - a therapist who helps people understand how their past shaped them, so they can finally feel more themselves in the present.
I work with people who’ve spent years being the responsible one, the strong one, the peacekeeper, the one who never wanted to let anyone down.
People who look confident from the outside, but inside feel overwhelmed by self-doubt, old patterns, or a harsh voice that never seems to let up.
Together, we gently explore where those parts of you came from - the childhood roles, the rules you never chose, the ways you learned to stay safe.
And then we do the real work: rebuilding a relationship with yourself that feels calmer, kinder and genuine.
My clients come to therapy because they want more than coping.
➡️ They want to feel grounded.
➡️ They want to feel worthy.
➡️ They want relationships that feel safe.
➡️ They want to parent differently, love differently, live differently.
And most of all, they want to feel like themselves again.
If that’s what you’re longing for too, you’re in the right place.
Follow along, I’d love to connect. 🤍
#reparenting #innerchildwork #attachmenthealing #emotionalwellbeing #richmondtherapist
🎙️ Two therapists. Both mothers. One very honest conversation.
In this episode of MindFriend Talk, Dr. Kirstie Fleetwood Meade and Amy Bojanowski-Bubb introduce themselves and the conversations they plan to have.
Dr. Kirstie is a counselling psychologist, executive coach, and yoga teacher. Amy is a psychotherapist and counsellor. And both are mothers to young children, which means the topics they are exploring are not just professional interests. They are lived ones.
Their focus is on the burdens women carry. The weight of motherhood. What it looks like to hold space for others while navigating your own life. And what happens at the intersection of being a mother and a therapist at the same time.
The tone they are going for is warm, honest, and conversational. Less lecture, more kitchen table.
What is one thing you wish more people talked openly about when it comes to the mental load of motherhood?
🎧 Check the podcast out, NOW on Spotify and YouTube.
Dr Kirstie Fleetwood Meade
Counselling Psychologist, Executive Coach & Yoga Teacher
Specialisation: Women's Wellbeing, Motherhood, Executive Coaching, Mindfulness
Based in: UK
Amy Bojanowski-Bubb
Psychotherapist & Counsellor
Specialisation: Motherhood, Women's Mental Health, Therapeutic Support
Based in: UK
Being the “strong one” can look like you’ve got everything together 🤍
💁🏼♀️ But it can also look like replying “I’m fine” when you’re anything but.
😩 Saying yes when you’re already stretched.
😳 Lying awake replaying something you said, wondering if you got it wrong.
🤦🏼♀️ Holding it together all day, then feeling it all hit when you finally get a moment to yourself.
People don’t always see this side of it.
They see someone capable. Reliable. The one who copes.
What they don’t see is how much you’re carrying on your own 🤍
And often, this didn’t just start in adulthood.
Maybe you were the one who didn’t want to add any extra stress.
The one who kept things calm.
The one who learned it was easier to just get on with things than ask for help.
It makes so much sense that this is how you’ve learned to be. 🤍
But it can also feel exhausting now.
In therapy, we can start to gently look at where these patterns came from, and what you might actually need now, not just what you’ve always had to be 🌿
I offer therapy in Richmond, Teddington and online.
If this feels familiar, follow along and you’re very welcome to have a look at working with me or send an enquiry through the link in my bio.
#therapyuk #richmondtherapy #peoplepleasing #overthinkingmind #selfworthhealing
When you’ve spent a long time being the “easy one”, the “strong one” or the one who keeps everything together…
It can feel surprisingly difficult to answer simple questions like:
“What do I actually want?”
“How do I really feel?”
Not because there’s something wrong with you.
But because you learned, often quite early on, to focus on what was needed from you, rather than what was happening inside you.
Over time, that can create a kind of distance from yourself.
The work isn’t about suddenly becoming a completely different person.
It’s about gently reconnecting with the parts of you that were pushed aside.
That might look like:
Pausing before automatically saying “I’m fine.”
Noticing when you’re about to agree to something out of habit.
Asking yourself small, everyday preference questions.
Or tuning into what a younger part of you might be needing.
These are small things.
But they’re often where change begins.
💬 Which one stood out to you?
#authenticself #innerchildhealing #selfconnection #therapytools #therapyrichmond
If you’ve always been the “together” one, people often assume you’re doing fine.
You might be the person others rely on.
The one who stays calm when things get stressful.
The one who keeps things moving.
And those qualities can be real strengths.
But sometimes they come with a quiet cost.
You get used to keeping your worries to yourself.
You automatically say “I’m fine.”
You focus on what everyone else needs.
Over time, this can create a strange feeling of distance from yourself.
People know the version of you who copes well.
But the parts of you that feel uncertain, overwhelmed, or in need of support can stay hidden.
Many people learned this pattern much earlier in life, when being easy, reliable, or emotionally steady helped them stay connected to the people around them.
Understanding those patterns is often where therapy begins.
Not so you stop being a capable or caring person,
but so you don’t have to carry everything on your own.
❤️ if this resonates.
#authenticself #therapyinsight #innerchildhealing #selfunderstanding #therapyrichmond
You might look like you’re coping well.
You get things done.
People rely on you.
You rarely make a fuss.
But inside, it can feel exhausting.
Not just because life is busy, but because you’ve learned to constantly manage how you appear to others.
Saying you’re fine when you’re not.
Keeping things together for everyone else.
Making sure you don’t upset the balance.
For many people this pattern didn’t start in adulthood.
It began much earlier, when being the easy one, the calm one or the responsible one felt like the safest way to belong.
These roles can help us survive difficult environments.
But later in life they can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves and unsure what we actually need, want or feel.
Therapy often begins by gently understanding where those roles came from.
And slowly discovering who you are when you no longer have to keep performing strength all the time.
If you're quietly doing this work, welcome. I'm so glad you're here.
❤️ if this resonated.
#innerchildhealing #authenticself #therapyinsight #selfunderstanding #therapyuk
The people who seem the most ‘together’ are often carrying the most inside.
You might be the one who keeps things running.
The one who worries about everyone else.
The one who overthinks conversations long after they’ve finished.
And from the outside, it might look like you're coping just fine.
But inside it can feel exhausting.
In therapy, we often start by gently understanding where these patterns came from. Many of them were ways of adapting when you were younger - ways of keeping the peace, staying safe or making sure you were accepted.
You’re not broken for responding the way you learned to.
But you also don’t have to keep living by those same rules forever.
Therapy can help you develop a kinder relationship with yourself, feel less caught in overthinking and start showing up in relationships in ways that feel more steady and authentic.
If this resonates with you, you’re very welcome to get in touch.
I offer therapy in Richmond and online across the UK.
You can find out more about working together, or send an enquiry, through the link in my bio.
#therapyuk #richmondtherapy #overthinkingmind #peoplepleasing #selfworthhealing
Spiralling often starts with something small.
A text that feels different.
A comment you replay three times.
A moment of tension you can’t quite name.
And before you know it, your body is tight and your mind is racing.
If you’ve ever told yourself:
“I shouldn’t still be like this”.
“I’m being dramatic”.
“I should know better by now”.
I want you to hear this gently:
Spiralling usually isn’t about the present moment.
It’s about a younger part of you that once had to scan the room for shifts, moods and danger.
That part isn’t silly.
It adapted.
And it doesn’t respond to criticism.
It responds to compassion and experience.
When we bring imagination into healing, we’re not being childish.
We’re giving your nervous system a new relational experience - one where you’re not alone, not in trouble, not about to lose love.
That’s where things begin to soften.
If you’re ready for work that goes beyond coping strategies and into emotional safety, I have space to welcome a few new clients.
You’re very welcome to reach out and see if it feels like the right fit.
#innerchildhealing #peoplepleasingrecovery #overthinkinghelp #therapyinlondon #anxiousattachment
You “know why” you’re like this.
So why does a slow text reply still ruin your whole evening?
You’ve joined the dots.
You understand the people-pleasing.
You can trace the anxiety back years.
And yet your chest still tightens.
You still replay conversations in your head.
You still apologise just to smooth things over.
That’s not you being dramatic.
And it’s not you failing at healing.
Insight lives in your adult mind.
But the part of you that once learned love could disappear?
That part responds to something different.
It needs to feel safe.
It needs compassion.
It sometimes needs imagination - not to be analysed, but to be met.
This is why healing isn’t just about understanding your childhood.
It’s about gently updating the emotional rules you had to learn back then.
If you’re exhausted from trying to think your way out of patterns that live in your body… you’re not broken. You adapted.
And there is another way.
If you’re tired of “knowing better” but not feeling better - this is the work I do.
#innerchildhealing #peoplepleasingrecovery #therapyinlondon #overthinkingmind #secureattachment
There’s something incredibly vulnerable about trying to speak to yourself differently.
Especially if you were praised for being strong, easy or self-sufficient.
If warmth wasn’t modelled to you, compassion won’t feel instinctive.
It might feel embarrassing.
Performative.
Even undeserved.
But what if that discomfort isn’t proof you’re doing it wrong?
What if it’s proof you’re stepping outside the rules you learned about how you’re allowed to treat yourself?
Healing isn’t just insight.
It’s experience.
And sometimes imagination - picturing your younger self, experimenting with a gentler tone - is what allows that experience to land.
If you’re curious about this kind of work, you’re always welcome to reach out.
Follow along so you don’t have to figure it out alone.
#SelfCompassion #InnerChildHealing #HealingOldWounds #EmotionalGrowth #TherapyInLondon
