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What

Hi. My name is Lorri Craig and I’m a UK Registered Counselling Psychologist. Welcome to my website.

I practice psychology, psychotherapy and counselling in Brighton and Hove.

I see people in person and online, so many of my clients live across the UK and overseas.

I work with people of all ages and backgrounds, and treat a wide range of  issues.

I practice a whole range of psychological therapies, including CBT, ACT, Mindfulness, EFT, TA, and Gestalt. However, my favourite therapy is called Advanced Integrative Therapy, or AIT [we psychological therapists love acronyms]. I find the AIT is often the best way to clear trauma and reset the nervous system. To find out more about AIT, right click HERE and open in a new tab.

I’ve been a psychologist for many decades. I’ve learned over the years that trust and confidentiality,  plus a warm and caring connection, with a sprinkle of fun, is the best recipe for helping people to heal and evolve.  You can find out more about me at the WHO tab on this website.

I believe that everyone could do with a bit of a psychological tune up from time to time. Maybe this is your time.

Please feel free to call, text or email if you would like to make an appointment to see me or chat about the possibility. I would love to hear from you.

Lorri

To arrange an appointment or find out more…

PHONE or TEXT  07456660227 

Or [if you must] EMAIL.

4, 56 Norton Road
HOVE
BN3 3BH

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The Power of Mindfulness

The human mind is an amazing instrument. It can reflect on things from the past and can imagine things that don’t yet exist. This ability gives we humans an adaptive advantage over other animals and helps us to create amazing stuff, like sculptures, bridges, planes and computers.

But that great gift comes with a hefty price tag. Because our mind is able to imagine things that have not yet happened, it can haunt and trigger us, creating stress, anxiety, anger and low mood.

You see, as well as our complex human brain, we all have a simple animal brain. This old and primitive part of our brain keeps us safe from danger. It is the root of the fight, flight or freeze response: the instinctive reaction to threat that all animals possess. When our senses perceive danger our stress hormones are instantly triggered into fear or anger, sending up our heart rate and blood pressure, and distracting us from healthy bodily functions like tissue repair, digestion, and immune response.

The thing is, our primitive brain doesn’t know the difference between imagined and real danger. Simply thinking about something scary or upsetting can trigger the fight, flight or freeze response. So it is  not good for us to be repeatedly caught in worries about the future or ruminations about the past.

Mindfulness, or mindful meditation, is about being in the present. It’s about giving our mind and nervous system a break by untangling us from the past and future. It’s about noticing and accepting our thoughts, memories and fears, without getting caught up in them. It’s about returning to the present. It’s about accepting our present experience without wishing it were different.

Focusing on the body and the breath is an excellent way of moving our attention away from our busy mind, into the present. This gives our mind a break, reduces stress hormones and the stress response, and exercises our ability to choose where we put our focus and how we choose to think and feel.

There are loads of mindfulness meditation practices available on YouTube and on apps. Practicing mindfulness daily is great medicine. Explore. Practice. Enjoy.