Jonathan Totman

The "rise" of autism - and why we should embrace it I'm pleased to share a new article recently published in the BACP journal, University and College Counselling. Please click below to access the PDF. This article first appeared in the September 2025 i...

The "rise" of autism - and why we should embrace it.

New article published in BACP journal University and College Counselling.

www.jonathantotman.co.uk/post/the-ris...

#autism #neurodiversity #therapistsconnect

Congratulations Pascale! Beautiful Beast. Looking forward to reading. 🧡

Huge congratulations Fiona! Brilliant news, brilliant poem. 🧡

Dear Friends

As we are a month away from Publication Day, a reminder about the Official Online Book Launch Event for 'Decolonising Counselling and Psychotherapy' on Saturday 29th of March. Really look forward to seeing you there.
www.eventbrite.com/e/decolonisi...

Thanks to @davebonta.bsky.social for generously collating this great selection of poetry blogs - v nice to be included.

On Ruins and Thresholds (after a poem by Jane Clarke) The Arch - Jane Clarke  Not Tudor or corbel,lancet or Gothic, not burdened by a bridgeor chastened by a church, but hewn from rough limestone blocks,wedged flank to flank by peasant masons, it stands at the edge of the avenuein chestnut-tree shade. It has sent off scoundrels,barred bailiffs from entry, welcomed carriages home.It never sleeps on duty, never refuses swallows a nest,never tells stories better unsaid. Years it watched the courtyard wallscrumble and fall, till it was left alone.

New blog post, with thanks to the brilliant @janeclarke.bsky.social.

Warmest wishes to all for the New Year.

www.jonathantotman.co.uk/post/on-ruin...

🙏🏻🧡

Hello friends and poets. I’m
Joining Bluesky on a high - with a poem selected by @thepoetryarchive.bsky.social for their Poetry Archive Now! 2024. Congratulations to all the winners and huge thanks to the judges.

Lovely to see you here Sarah. Brilliant, devastating poem. X

Front cover of poetry book "The Sessions" by Jonathan Totman, published by Pindrop Press, featuring an abstract painting comprised of lines and blurry rectangular shapes in shades of grey, red, black and white. It looks a bit like a window of light near the centre.

Back cover of poetry book "The Sessions" by Jonathan Totman, with a blurb in white text on a red banner and endorsements in black text in a pale background. Text can be found at this link: http://www.pindroppress.com/books/The%20Sessions.html

Happy/anxious memories of launching this book a year ago today with the brilliant @fionalarkin.bsky.social. Warm thanks to everyone who has bought a copy 🙏🏻

More info about the book here for anyone who may be interested: www.pindroppress.com/books/The%20...

#TherapistsConnect #Poetry

In Conversation - Kate Fox On writing 'What Could Be Called Communication' In poems of the pandemic The Oscillations  explores isolation and distance through the len...

And because this is a poetry space as well, I'm sharing a link to a great poem and reflective commentary on similar themes by @katefoxwriter75.bsky.social

ninearchespress.blogspot.com/2021/01/in-c...

On the Double Empathy Problem Please click below to read a new article, On the Double Empathy Problem, recently published in the BACP journal University & College Counselling.This article first appeared in the November 2024 issue ...

Little piece on the double empathy problem in BACP journal 'University & College Counselling'

www.jonathantotman.co.uk/post/on-the-...

#autism #neurodiversity #TherapistsConnect

The poetry book ‘After the Rites and the Sandwiches’ by Kathy Pimlott photographed by two empty teacups. The cover is primarily blue and features a dropped cup with liquid spilling from it.

Since you fell downstairs and died I've eaten many squares of chocolate with the conviction that it's good for me, something to do with the blood. The weather's promised but no-show ferocious interludes disappoint me. I want to be grabbed by the scruff, shaken till my teeth rattle even though our dentist's retired. The new ones are efficient. They've removed you from the files. I've taken to lists to just this side of crazy to keep sane. Socks in bed are a comfort. Forgive me, I've laughed, glided lightly round garden centres, sipped fizzy wine with friends, sorted out edge pieces of puzzles. And I sleep most nights, the kind of sleep people dream of, unbroken, many-fathomed, waking with the light. It's tidier. The onion skins you trailed from kitchen to living room are no longer an issue but the if-onlys, a parade of fresh recruits marching for no obvious purpose, bother me. And the if-I'd-justs in red coats, mounted on dark horses. Not one drops a rifle or stumbles against the shiny heel of the one in front, not one falls to their knees on the compacted dust. It breaks my heart.

Recently I’ve been spending time with these tender, moving, sometimes heartbreakingly funny, accomplished poems by @pimlottkathy.bsky.social from her Emma Press collection ‘After the Rites and the Sandwiches’, which deal with the sudden death of her husband of many years. #poets #newpoem #poetry

Myira Khan Counselling on Instagram: "We don't 'create' safe spaces. We create spaces for people to feel safe enough in. This was the final slide from my presentation on Saturday, where I spoke abou... 18 likes, 1 comments - myirakhancounselling on October 29, 2024: "We don't 'create' safe spaces. We create spaces for people to feel safe enough in. This was the final slide from my presentation on ...

www.instagram.com/myirakhancou...

I like Myira Khan's reframe of "creating spaces in which people can feel safe enough" - rather than assuming we as therapists know what safety means for someone.

On Being Trans by Clare Shaw as if a tree used to be stone as if stone felt tree inside it it took such a long time to grow and though it did not have words the stone was always a tree and it cracked open - should stone be allowed to crack open? as if all this knowledge was seed and it scared us as if it was light and we had been in the dark a long time as if we dreamed ourselves into being and this was forbidden and some were flowers and they plucked us and some of us were thistledown and blew away as if the seed was a dream and broke open the stone because of the tiny spaces and the incredible strength of the seed as if something knew itself more than whatever made it as if something dreamed itself into being even though it was not allowed

Today - 20th November - is Transgender Day of Remembrance. Remembering the 350 transpeople whose murders were recorded this year. With love and sadness.

It's that time of year! Sign up to receive a poem a day by email throughout advent, with poems by some fantastic contemporary poets. Sign-ups are by donation, with all money going to Medicins Sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders (@MSF_uk).
book.benefacthq.com?id=poetry-ad...

This is a lovely idea 🙏🏻

Thanks ever so much for this! If there's space, I'd love to be added but no problem if not.

Wow, very lovely to see the poetry community on here ballooning! 👋🏻

Photo of a stag with large antlers sat beneath a beech tree among fallen leaves, other trees and grassy clearings in the background

I find I'm mainly posting wildlife pictures these days...

A red-brown muntjac deer standing on grass and fallen brown leaves

This morning's visitor

Close-up photo of grey squirrel on a patio looking at the camera

Close-up photo of a grey squirrel on a patio nibbling a sunflower seed

Good morning from a very friendly squirrel

Residential Writing Week: Poetry The wild is within us as well as out there, around us. Join award-winning tutors Clare Best and Pascale Petit to write about landscape and the body and how they might connect. Both have written extens...

I'm really looking forward to giving the guest reading at this Arvon residential writing retreat on Landscape and the Body with Clare Best and Pascale Petit @pascalepetit.bsky.social. Still time to snap up a place - it will be a wonderful week!

www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Poetry Blog Digest 2024, Week 34 A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

@emmalee1.bsky.social @shawnteorion.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social @edmundprestwich.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social @jonathantotman.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @lesleymwheeler.bsky.social @matriches.bsky.social
www.vianegativa.us/2024/08/poet...

On Therapist Self-Disclosure Article first published in Lapidus Magazine Issue 4A self-disclosure: I’m not sure how to start this article. I’ve been procrastinating, badly. I’m writing now on the floor of my six-year-old’s bedroo...

New blog post (first published in Lapidus Magazine): On Therapist Self-Disclosure

www.jonathantotman.co.uk/post/on-ther...

Community Trauma Conference UK - List of mental health organisations and services

Sharing this resource from Community Trauma Conference UK - a list of mental health organisations and services for People of Colour, Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Muslim Communities affected by the racist riots, rhetoric and violence in the UK. www.communitytraumaconf.com/news/list-of...

Goodbye X, hello Bluesky. Nice to be here. 👋🏻

Poster advertising a joint poetry book launch event for Fiona Larkin and Jonathan Totman. Featuring dark blue background, strung lanterns and spots of light along with profile pictures of the authors. Text reads: Sunday 10 December, 7.30pm via Zoom. Hosted by Sharon Black of Pindrop Press. Email pindroplaunch2023@outlook.com to register.

All welcome - email pindroplaunch2023@outlook.com to register. 🙏🏻🤍

New Book! The blog has been a bit quiet for a while, in part because I've been putting the finishing touches to my new collection. I'm delighted to announce that The Sessions has now been published! You can rea...

Hello folks, nice to be here. Happy to share details of my new collection, The Sessions, and upcoming Zoom launch with @fionalarkin.bsky.social on 10 December - all welcome! Email pindroplaunch2023@outlook.com to register. www.jonathantotman.co.uk/post/new-book