Sass Boucher MSc BA Hons MBACP

27/02/2025

Such important awareness for anyone paid or voluntary in the helping professions.

The term “vicarious traumatisation” was introduced by McCann & Pearlman (1990) to describe the profound changes in a helping professional’s inner experience as a result of empathic engagement with others’ trauma. It highlights how working closely with people in distress can shift our worldview, beliefs, and emotional well-being over time.
Unlike compassion fatigue, which can develop from the emotional demands of supporting others, vicarious trauma arises specifically from exposure to another person’s trauma. The individuals you work with will have experienced a real traumatic event, and through your role—whether in face-to-face interactions, reading case notes, or hearing their stories—you become impacted. Over time, this can alter your own sense of safety, trust, and meaning in the world.
While Charles Figley explored secondary traumatic stress in the 1980s and Judith Herman (1992) contributed to our understanding of trauma’s impact, vicarious trauma specifically refers to the transformation in our inner world due to indirect exposure.
It’s important to remember that vicarious trauma isn’t a personal failing—it’s a natural response to sustained work in the helping professions. With awareness and protective strategies, we can sustain this work without losing ourselves in the process.

27/02/2025

I don’t believe therapy should ask you to fit into a rigid framework. You’re not a textbook case, and your experiences don’t follow a formula—so why should therapy?
As a person-centred therapist, I ground my work in the theory we learn from Carl Rogers—while recognising that understanding continues to evolve, challenge, and expand. But no matter how theory develops, the relationship between therapist and client remains at the core. There’s no single approach that works for everyone, all the time. What matters most is that therapy meets you where you are.
Whether you’re looking for deep exploration, a space to process, or just someone to sit alongside you for a while—therapy should be flexible enough to shape around you, not the other way around.

26/02/2025

Now in its third edition, 'The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety' offers trusted tools to help you take charge of your anxiety, fears, and your life.

https://www.newharbinger.com/9781648484476/the-mindfulness-and-acceptance-workbook-for-anxiety/

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25/02/2025

In person-centred counselling, this is known as the actualising tendency—the idea that deep down, we all have an innate drive to grow, heal, and become more of who we truly are.
Even when life feels overwhelming, even when we can’t see a way forward, that force is still there. It might get buried under pain, fear, or self-doubt, but it doesn’t disappear.
Therapy is often about helping clear the way, creating space for that growth to happen in your own time and way.
It’s not about fixing you—it’s about trusting that you already have what you need inside.
And maybe, even when we can’t see hope, it’s still there—quietly waiting.

24/02/2025

24/02/2025

💡 “The ‘cost of caring’ doesn’t have to leave you feeling physically and emotionally bankrupt.”
Caring deeply isn’t about transactions — but when we give and give without space to refill, it can leave us completely spent. Not just tired, but emotionally and physically bankrupt.
That’s compassion fatigue — the slow, quiet erosion that leaves us disconnected from why we care in the first place.
But it doesn’t have to be inevitable. Whether it’s self-care (the real kind), peer support, supervision, or balancing the Five Pillars, investing in yourself isn’t indulgent — it’s how you keep doing what you love without losing yourself in the process.
And this isn’t just about paid roles — it’s for students, carers, friends, and family too. Anyone who holds space for others deserves the same care in return. 🌿💛

22/02/2025

22/02/2025

Keep persevering. You can do it

Image: https://www.instagram.com/taniascreativewander

22/02/2025

~iuliastration

20/02/2025

Sometimes we just need a glimpse of lighter skies to remind us brighter days are coming.
I actually quite like winter—I don’t mind wrapping up and getting cosy—but I know it’s tough for a lot of folks.
Today felt a little milder, and as I got out of my car, I stood under the railway bridge looking towards the canal and noticed how the light broke through—just enough to offer that little glimmer.
It made me think about those moments in life and therapy where we’re in the thick of something tough, but there’s a sliver of brightness ahead. Maybe not everything is clear, maybe the path still feels uncertain, but there’s enough light to take another step.
And sometimes, that’s all we need.
Therapy can be like that too—a space to sit with the heavy bits, while also holding onto hope that things can feel lighter in time. No rush, no pressure—just space to be where you are, with someone who gets it.
(And, according to my granddaughter, it wasn’t a railway bridge I walked through—it was a cave. And honestly, I love that idea. A little bit of magic on the way to brighter days.)

20/02/2025

Peer support isn’t a ‘nice to have’—it’s essential for protecting against burnout.
Burnout isn’t just about workload—it’s also about a breakdown in community. And what a hit that took across health, social care, and education during the pandemic! When we lose connection, we lose one of the biggest buffers against professional trauma and fatigue.
Over seven years of training and research have reinforced this for us: peer support is one of the strongest pillars of protection. It brings understanding, shared experience, and—when appropriate—much laughter, which might just be one of the most powerful antidotes to stress.
And the best part? Your support network doesn’t have to be limited to your current team or immediate colleagues. Peer support can come from professional networks, supervision groups, trusted friends in the field, or those who just ‘get it.’
Who are the people who help you keep going?

19/02/2025

It might seem easy to listen, but truly hearing someone is something else entirely. It’s not about sitting there, nodding along (I promise there’s more to it than that!) or waiting for our turn to speak. It’s about being fully present—really tuning in to what’s being said and what isn’t.
In therapy, words matter, of course they do, but so do the pauses, the shifts in tone, the moments when someone almost says something but doesn’t. It’s about trying to tune into the heart—or, as we might say if we’re getting a bit more ‘therapisty’, stepping into the client’s frame of reference. It’s about meeting clients where they are, not where we think they should be.
If we can hear what’s behind the words, maybe we can create a space steady enough for those words to be spoken. And if we’re doing our job right, we’re not the ones filling the space with meaning—the client is.
Because who am I to assume I know more about you than you do?
Always remembering that therapy is different for everyone.

17/02/2025

A tutor once told me that we must earn the right to sit with others—and that’s always stayed with me.
Person-centred counselling isn’t about giving advice or leading the way; it’s about offering space for someone to explore in their own way, in their own time. But how can we offer that space to others if we struggle to hold it for ourselves?
If we find it hard to sit with our own emotions, discomfort, or uncertainty, how will we manage when a client brings theirs?
Maybe part of training is learning not just how to be with clients, but how to be with ourselves.

16/02/2025

Are you interested in discussing person-centred theory and practice?

Join us for an initial conversation captured in our YouTube recording, or tune into our podcast, where Helen Skelton and Peter Blundell share their understanding of the person-centred approach and its profound connections to their therapeutic work.

This discussion serves as a foundational step for the person-centred practice community, inviting you to reflect on your own experiences and perspectives.

To become part of this growing dialogue, discover our social media accounts and resources through the following link: https://linktr.ee/PCPC1.



Find the conversation here - https://youtu.be/f6NZEz4MEg0

15/02/2025

📚 A Well-Loved, Well-Lived Bookshelf

It’s been a full week—clients, teaching, training, and a whole lot of dipping in and out of books. And now, my bookshelf is looking a little… lived in. A bit like my brain, really.

These books hold so much—person-centred counselling for practice and teaching, and the key texts for this week’s SelfCare Psychology training with Kate. A mix of wisdom, theory, and the things that help me keep showing up.

Maybe it’s time to straighten them up… or maybe this is just a very visual representation of a busy but fulfilling week. Either way, it’s definitely got that ‘Friday’ feeling, even if it be only just noticed! 😂

📖✨ How’s your week looked? Does your bookshelf (or desk, or brain!) reflect it?