When I’m asked to conceptualise human development and our capacity for supporting ourselves, the image of a tree or a felled tree’s remaining stump comes to mind.

It’s been documented that each tree-ring represents a year of the tree’s life, starting from its core.

I explain how the tree would have grown and grown, from being at first a young tree to later in life becoming an adult tree whilst also retaining its young parts. Pointing to the tree-stump and its developmental rings, I’ll articulate how the tree at whatever its age would have been and always will be also a child tree – because the inner rings have always and will always be present within the overall tree.

Likewise, humans, in whatever adult form you find yourself in now, are also child at their core; having gone through a similar development from our roots and through our different ages.

But as adults we sometimes lose touch with our core, and when that happens we don’t feel so well.

The task of psychotherapy is to develop your relationship with yourself; to examine your life across time and events in order for you to re-connect with where you have drifted apart so that you can more firmly stand your ground and branch into a different future.