“I am a strong believer that everyone benefits from therapy”

Mental health advocate Jo Love shares her thoughts on managing lockdown and why she believes that therapy is magic

Jo Love, like all of us, is in lockdown and speaking from her spare room in a rare moment of household quiet as she joins the Zoom call to record Happiful’s podcast I am. I have

Explaining that she is sharing the house with three dogs, a relative who was due to move at the time of the outbreak, her husband and daughter - Jo’s situation is one that will resonate with a large number of people.

Suddenly, the home we live in has become the epicentre of our lives and is where we now work, rest and play - and in some circumstances - homeschool and have online therapy too.

As well as sharing her thoughts on social media consumption - “What is one persons’ motivation could be the reason for another person to feel rubbish about themselves” - Jo is flying the flag for the continuation of therapy in lockdown.

As a long time mental health advocate, Jo has been sharing her personal experiences of counselling for some time - starting out with 'Therapy Thursday' on her own instagram page and more recently establishing Therapy is Magic, a dedicated space to share thoughts on counselling, free resources for others and to open up a broad dialogue about mental health support.

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Maybe not physically, but virtually or by phone. Keep getting therapy. I can’t help but think we need the support now more than ever! It might feel weird, you might be a bit distracted, you might not be able to dig as deep, you might have a lack of privacy - but surely something is better than nothing and maybe different doesn’t need to be worse! It might take some time to get used to it but keep at it! . . #selfcare #selflove #therapy #therapyiscool #therapyismagic #mhquotes #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #resiliantAF #mentalhealthsupport #selfcompassion #mentalhealthrecovery #suicideprevention #therapyhumour #mentalhealthwarrior #wellness #health #mentalillness #mentalhealthadvocate #stopthestigma #askforhelp #mytherapistsays #freetherapy

A post shared by Therapy Is Magic (@therapyismagic) on Mar 20, 2020 at 7:23am PDT

“Therapy has been incredibly important in my life,” Jo explains. “I should probably say that I currently have therapy for my mental wellness rather than an active mental illness but because I do have mental health conditions, sometimes it's more about my illness than my wellness. I am a strong believer that everyone benefits from therapy.”

Jo shares that she considered stopping therapy when the coronavirus outbreak occurred, but soon realised that she needed the continuity, space and time with someone who was there, just for her, as the household around her became busier and more frantic.

After trial and error with Zoom and being interupted by her family, Jo says that she now has weekly 'car therapy' over Facetime, in order to have clear and quiet space for her session. It works for her.

It’s a different experience she says but then, everything is different. “Going online has changed therapy. I heard someone saying ‘something is better than nothing' but I think that kind of diminishes it.

“Yes, there’s a bit more distraction but it’s still therapy, it’s still beneficial and we’ll work it out and get used to it.”

Follow Jo and Therapy is Magic on Instagram