A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ROSALIND GREEN – A CLINICAL COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL HYPNOTHERAPIST.

It’s August – which means that Team Actually is on holiday. But we thought this might be a great opportunity for you to get to know some awesome members of the Actually community a little better! So settle in for another dose of ‘A Day in the Life of…’ an Actually person! 

This week we are jumping into the life of the fabulous Rosalind Green – a clinical cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist or psychotherapist.

I’m Rosalind Green, a clinical cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist or psychotherapist. I mostly help adults discover how to find calm and fulfilment in this hectic and sometimes overwhelming life. I teach clients the skills they need to become their own therapist.  This enables them to overcome problems such as stress, perfectionism, procrastination, (dis-)comfort eating, insomnia and phobias. With over 25 years in hospital medicine, I can effectively speak to a client’s GP when a client is struggling with clinical anxiety, mild depression, troublesome IBS, migraines, perimenopausal symptoms, chronic pain. 

I had always wanted to be a doctor or a teacher.  I saw some practices where I worked which were simply unacceptable, and I became a whistleblower.  That decision literally changed my life.  I wasn’t sure how I could continue helping others afterwards, so I did a couple of Open University modules, a story-telling course, various mental health training courses then a Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy. I also learnt to belly dance but only ever managed to coordinate 1 veil or a pair of wings; before you ask me, ‘No way, never again, the image would haunt you, it’s for your own good’!  

Without wishing to sound like an X-Factor wannabe, I remain passionate about helping others to have good mental and physical health and prevent avoidable chronic diseases. 

I work from a number of locations and my days vary depending on whether I’m in my London flat, travelling in my campervan, with my Significant Other in Normandy or my house in Andalusia (it’s a long story!) Following retirement from NHS hospital medicine and university teaching, I am in the fortunate position of being able to take care of my body, and to consider my own needs. 

Today I woke at 07:15 but dozed until 08:00 before doing some gentle stretches. I’m neither a lark nor an owl. I’m more like a swallow that needs regulated temperatures, loads of daylight, frequent activities and food, and sleep. I know one can’t ‘catch up’ on sleep, but Medicine weeks were gruelling. I’d completed the hours of a ‘normal’ person’s 40-hour week working life in under 20 years of my career.  So now I try to counterbalance that with better sleep routines. 

I usually drink a couple of mugs of coffee whilst getting a dose of morning sunlight, but today I walked to the supermarket for supplies and treated myself to a coffee at a local café; I try to keep my lattes local, rather than Starbucks. I had a quick WhatsApp with my S.O. before returning to my studio flat for a coaching call and admin. I used to write ‘morning pages’ but I now prefer to keep a gratitude journal – I think it’s the beneficial effect of loads of therapy. 

My work location is a laptop, headset, microphone, comfy seat (preferably) and a wheelie bag. I have discovered that a windy field causes unacceptable sound quality, so I won’t be working out of a tent again. 

The most difficult thing about my current lifestyle is the physical isolation from others.   I’m not in one place long enough to set down roots. However, I have wonderful friends I connect with online several times/week and my S.O. is my best friend of course. 

I’ve seen dire consequences from the unwise lifestyle choices of my former patients.   I generally eat a plant-based diet with time-restricted eating. Maybe a lunch of tofu, salad, oatcakes, soy yoghurt and grapes, followed by mint tea.  It sounds too good to be true.  Some days it is. 

 This afternoon I’ve been researching how best to help a client struggling after leaving a cult, doing Actually’s ‘People’ research for my exciting new project – a series of low-cost perimenopause webinars – and learning to play ‘Jingle Bells’ on the harmonica I bought at a recent festival. I will go to a class at the gym later, eat, phone my S.O. and listen to an audiobook. I don’t have a TV (do have a licence to make iPlayer legal!) but I have been binge-watching ‘Killing Eve’ recently…

I had paid for several non-Actually programmes which hadn’t been useful for my purposes. I was initially a lurker, visiting Sara’s generous free resources, joining the Start-the-Week FB group before joining a paid module. I was attracted by Sara’s openness, sense of humour and the quality of information she offered. (That sounds a bit like dating feedback, but it isn’t.) 

This year, I joined the Foundations programme and JFDI. I’m enjoying participating in JFDI and the community support is both useful and heart-warming.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ROSALIND GREEN

A massive thank you to Rosalind for allowing us to have an insight into your day!

If you’d like to know more about Rosalind you can view her website here, Instagram here or LinkedIn here.