Thank you

I want to express my gratitude to those of you who have shuffled your appointment around or given it up altogether because someone experiencing acute depression, anxiety, grief, loss or trauma has needed an urgent appointment. I don’t like to ask you to do this because I know you have booked your appointment a long time in advance and you’re in the middle of working on something important

Every year for Christmas I ask Santa for two things: 1) more time in my life (a nine day week would be nice); 2) the ability to write (or draw) neatly on a whiteboard (those of you who have seen me draw a dog in explaining the experiment of learned helplessness will know what I’m talking about).

I keep getting neither.

But you help me with both: you put up with my scribbles on the whiteboard (and the dogs that look like a rabbit crossed with a cat) and willingly give up your appointment for someone who is struggling.

Thank you.