Domestic abuse recovery

A new season

Posted by Jenni James on 17 September 2025

There are some of us who adapt brilliantly and quickly to change, while others might need a longer processing time. A friend of mine absolutely loves Autumn; she embraces the change in season in such tangible ways. There’ll be an Autumn wreath on the door, the scented candles will change to earthy, woody smells, and she treats herself to a new Autumnal nail varnish!

Some of us have children who are neurodiverse, or maybe we are ourselves, and the change in season can bring new challenges like a change in clothing, weather, length of sunlight and routines. No doubt, when this is part of our story, we will have already prepared as much as we can when we see these changes coming; but sometimes, there isn’t the time to plan and prepare. Sometimes change happens in an instant and we aren’t able to put things in place.

So here are some handy tips to remember over the next few weeks if change resonates with you at the moment. We will all have individual coping strategies that we’ve learnt, so maybe treat this email as a gentle reminder to keep practising them, so that when we’re ‘in the moment’ those strategies need less thinking time.

Breathing

Concentrate on taking deep breaths from your diaphragm, ensuring that your out breath is longer than your breath in. Maybe count in for 5 and out for 8, or in for 7 and out for 11.

It’s on the out breath that our parasympathetic nervous system, the bit that engages relaxation, is activated, so ensuring that the out breath is longer helps us to relax.

Giving yourself some regular space

Find some time each day, even just 5 minutes, to practise your breathing or another activity that will relax you.

Contrary to popular belief, nobody can actually multitask! Some of us have busy brains and a natural leaning to do lots of things at once, but we can only think about and do one thing at a time. Therefore, by giving ourselves some regular alone space will enable us to keep our bodies regulated and to calm our minds.

Get out into nature

Even if we live in built up areas, there will be some green spaces around you. Take a little time to look, touch or listen to something in nature.

There are some really helpful tips on the Mind website for getting started if you want some guidance.

Journalling

Write down the thoughts and feelings you have around change.

By journaling, we can also pick up on trends in our mental health. Does my menstrual cycle have anything to do with how I feel and when I feel it? Are there times in the day/month/year that I am more likely to be triggered? From this we can begin to make life changes that will support and/or change some of these patterns.

Laughing

Either with friends and family or just by yourself!

When we laugh, it releases endorphins and decreases the stress hormone. If it’s difficult to find someone to laugh with, there are many podcasts that might help.