Karen (they/them)
@karenpollock.bsky.social
white, queer, non binary, autistic, working class psychotherapist, supervisor, writer and geek.
"But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass"
counsellinginnorthumberland.com
header shows the Northern Lights
"But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass"
counsellinginnorthumberland.com
header shows the Northern Lights
Pinned
Authentic Self-Care: Beyond Capitalism’s Promises
I talk a lot about self care, not commodified "spend this money to somehow magically make everything better" self care as promoted by capitalism. Instead the self care which gives us time and space to check in with ourselves and ask - what do I need and how do I meet that need. Self care can totally mean bubble baths and chocolate, but it can also mean saying no, cutting contact, putting aside a project, changing plans, boundaries and protections.
counsellinginnorthumberland.com
Just why did I start a podcast about mental health and tolkien? Some thoughts on my podcast -Go Not To the ELves for Counsel #AureEntuluva #SelfCare
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
Another new publication! Thrilled to receive my contributor copy of Númenor, the Frail and Mighty reach print, also featuring @clarelmoore.bsky.social, @mercuryreads.bsky.social, @aranelparmadil.bsky.social, @putriprihatini.bsky.social, and more. Mazel Tov to editor @willsherwood.bsky.social too!
November 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
latest podcast episode The importance of hope in lotr and therapy open.spotify.com/episode/6rzr... #lotr #lordoftherings #tolkien
Hope
open.spotify.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
latest podcast episode The importance of hope in lotr and therapy open.spotify.com/episode/6rzr... #lotr #lordoftherings #tolkien
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
Instead of following the tripe about whether #WesStreeting is on manouvres, read this important Guardian article about some of the people whose rights have been consistently ignored and over-ridden by the capture of the political establishment by #transphobia www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children
What should be done about the small proportion of babies born with genitals that are neither typically male nor typically female? Many of those affected believe parents and doctors are often too quick...
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Instead of following the tripe about whether #WesStreeting is on manouvres, read this important Guardian article about some of the people whose rights have been consistently ignored and over-ridden by the capture of the political establishment by #transphobia www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
sunset in autumn is a magical time #Northumberland
November 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM
sunset in autumn is a magical time #Northumberland
Amazing opportunity to access @pinktherapy.bsky.social training with a discount this winter - including my working with sex workers unit pink-therapy-training.teachable.com?fbclid=IwdGR... #lgbtq #sexworkiswork #therapysky #therapistsconnect
Homepage
pink-therapy-training.teachable.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Amazing opportunity to access @pinktherapy.bsky.social training with a discount this winter - including my working with sex workers unit pink-therapy-training.teachable.com?fbclid=IwdGR... #lgbtq #sexworkiswork #therapysky #therapistsconnect
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
A new blog post on stages of development, compulsory hetrosexuality and one very famous elven princess counsellinginnorthumberland.com/2025/11/10/m...
More Than a Wife: Understanding Arwen’s True ‘Doom’
As some of you already know this year I began a podcast as an act of self care, hope seeking, and from a belief that we need to be lights shining in the darkness, as fascism and hate rise around us…
counsellinginnorthumberland.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:44 PM
A new blog post on stages of development, compulsory hetrosexuality and one very famous elven princess counsellinginnorthumberland.com/2025/11/10/m...
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
Please use this to email your MP asking to scrap the bathroom ban
actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...
actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...
Scrap the Bathroom Ban
🚨This is urgent🚨
Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, has a decision to make. The EHRC, a regulator mired in controversy over anti-trans views, has sent a new draft Code of Prac...
actionnetwork.org
November 9, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Please use this to email your MP asking to scrap the bathroom ban
actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...
actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...
I dont often say "read the comments" but there are really good discussions here of why Amercian customer service staff are expected to do fake smiles (something which feels wierd to me and which I am sure is linked to the American femme 'podcaster giggle')
"Store employees are now required to smile if they are within 10 feet of a shopper.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
Target is now requiring its employees to smile more
As the holiday season fast approaches, Target is urging its employees to add a little more “jolly” to their work routine.
www.wilx.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:48 AM
I dont often say "read the comments" but there are really good discussions here of why Amercian customer service staff are expected to do fake smiles (something which feels wierd to me and which I am sure is linked to the American femme 'podcaster giggle')
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n... Fascinating read and useful reminder of how so many of the accusations of those captured by angry far right propaganda are actually projections
‘They’re not wolves – they’re sheep’: the psychiatrist who spent decades meeting and studying lone-actor mass killers
Paul E Mullen has had a front-row seat to the men behind some of the worst public massacres. He says it’s possible to ‘disrupt the script’ for future violence
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:44 AM
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n... Fascinating read and useful reminder of how so many of the accusations of those captured by angry far right propaganda are actually projections
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
I got tired of reading this fake statistic that strangulation during sex was the "second leading cause of stroke in young women".
It's not.
medium.com/@nicole.prau...
It's not.
medium.com/@nicole.prau...
Is “strangulation” really the second cause of stroke in young women?
Here we go again
medium.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:49 AM
I got tired of reading this fake statistic that strangulation during sex was the "second leading cause of stroke in young women".
It's not.
medium.com/@nicole.prau...
It's not.
medium.com/@nicole.prau...
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Seeing people defend 1970s punks wearing of nazi symbols as just "rebellion" is very odd
Those punks are the terfs and reform voters of today, they haven't changed
Those punks are the terfs and reform voters of today, they haven't changed
November 5, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Seeing people defend 1970s punks wearing of nazi symbols as just "rebellion" is very odd
Those punks are the terfs and reform voters of today, they haven't changed
Those punks are the terfs and reform voters of today, they haven't changed
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
Kinda bothers me when fans interpret every close same-sex relationship in media as romantic/sexual. Like I fully grasp how much "historians call them roommates" shit sucks
But I also don't think "Healthy platonic emotional intimacy btwn guys is impossible, they just wanna F U C K" is the answer?
But I also don't think "Healthy platonic emotional intimacy btwn guys is impossible, they just wanna F U C K" is the answer?
November 3, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Kinda bothers me when fans interpret every close same-sex relationship in media as romantic/sexual. Like I fully grasp how much "historians call them roommates" shit sucks
But I also don't think "Healthy platonic emotional intimacy btwn guys is impossible, they just wanna F U C K" is the answer?
But I also don't think "Healthy platonic emotional intimacy btwn guys is impossible, they just wanna F U C K" is the answer?
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
November is Adopt A Senior Pet Month.
Flower, age 15, is here to remind you that seniors are cute, have love to give, can learn your routine and would appreciate safe retirement.
Kittens are cute too, but give a home to a senior.
Adopt the Seniors !
#cats #CatsOfBluesky #gato
Flower, age 15, is here to remind you that seniors are cute, have love to give, can learn your routine and would appreciate safe retirement.
Kittens are cute too, but give a home to a senior.
Adopt the Seniors !
#cats #CatsOfBluesky #gato
November 2, 2025 at 11:40 AM
November is Adopt A Senior Pet Month.
Flower, age 15, is here to remind you that seniors are cute, have love to give, can learn your routine and would appreciate safe retirement.
Kittens are cute too, but give a home to a senior.
Adopt the Seniors !
#cats #CatsOfBluesky #gato
Flower, age 15, is here to remind you that seniors are cute, have love to give, can learn your routine and would appreciate safe retirement.
Kittens are cute too, but give a home to a senior.
Adopt the Seniors !
#cats #CatsOfBluesky #gato
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
Finally we have Shalton! Shalton is fundraising to help queer refugees in Juba south sudan. More info at: www.gofundme.com/f/help-trans...
Donate if you can, share if you can't!
#FundingSunday #TransFundraiser #Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #LGBTQI #TransSupport #LGBTQ #InternationalSolidarity
Donate if you can, share if you can't!
#FundingSunday #TransFundraiser #Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #LGBTQI #TransSupport #LGBTQ #InternationalSolidarity
November 2, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Finally we have Shalton! Shalton is fundraising to help queer refugees in Juba south sudan. More info at: www.gofundme.com/f/help-trans...
Donate if you can, share if you can't!
#FundingSunday #TransFundraiser #Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #LGBTQI #TransSupport #LGBTQ #InternationalSolidarity
Donate if you can, share if you can't!
#FundingSunday #TransFundraiser #Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #LGBTQI #TransSupport #LGBTQ #InternationalSolidarity
In sessions I call these "shirt on the floor" moments (hat tip to a friend who came up with that phrase)
Usually cis het men only see the dirty shirt left on the floor, and feel there is an overreaction
But the shirt is the last straw of many moments
Usually cis het men only see the dirty shirt left on the floor, and feel there is an overreaction
But the shirt is the last straw of many moments
November 2, 2025 at 12:17 PM
In sessions I call these "shirt on the floor" moments (hat tip to a friend who came up with that phrase)
Usually cis het men only see the dirty shirt left on the floor, and feel there is an overreaction
But the shirt is the last straw of many moments
Usually cis het men only see the dirty shirt left on the floor, and feel there is an overreaction
But the shirt is the last straw of many moments
why does it matter that those of us who aren't fascist snozzcumbers speak out about the appropriation of LoTR?
Because there is a reason they want to rewrite a story about mercy, hope and small hands changing the world
Because there is a reason they want to rewrite a story about mercy, hope and small hands changing the world
November 2, 2025 at 12:12 PM
why does it matter that those of us who aren't fascist snozzcumbers speak out about the appropriation of LoTR?
Because there is a reason they want to rewrite a story about mercy, hope and small hands changing the world
Because there is a reason they want to rewrite a story about mercy, hope and small hands changing the world
we cannot have genuine equality for queer people until we eradicate the idea it is better to be cis het
Being lgbtqaai is not coming in second place, something to be pityed or prevented
Its not something you tolerate or accept to show how "good" you are
Being lgbtqaai is not coming in second place, something to be pityed or prevented
Its not something you tolerate or accept to show how "good" you are
November 2, 2025 at 11:17 AM
we cannot have genuine equality for queer people until we eradicate the idea it is better to be cis het
Being lgbtqaai is not coming in second place, something to be pityed or prevented
Its not something you tolerate or accept to show how "good" you are
Being lgbtqaai is not coming in second place, something to be pityed or prevented
Its not something you tolerate or accept to show how "good" you are
the cass report was written by someone who saw being trans as a negative outcome - everything else flowed from that
The research they wanted was proof conversion therapy would work
The research they wanted was proof conversion therapy would work
Saw a news report yesterday about children as young as 9 being given weight loss jabs on the NHS, and I think it shows just how utterly bullshit the “lack of research into long term impacts” excuse for banning puberty blockers for trans kids really was. It’s purely ideological.
November 2, 2025 at 10:55 AM
the cass report was written by someone who saw being trans as a negative outcome - everything else flowed from that
The research they wanted was proof conversion therapy would work
The research they wanted was proof conversion therapy would work
www.wired.com/story/elon-m... Good overview of how people who dont even seem to have read lotr like using it (so good that I will forgive it the dwarf nonsense)
Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get 'The Lord of the Rings'
Musk has recently used Tolkien references to push anti-immigration messaging, as has the Department of Homeland security. They've got it all backwards.
www.wired.com
November 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
www.wired.com/story/elon-m... Good overview of how people who dont even seem to have read lotr like using it (so good that I will forgive it the dwarf nonsense)
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
I wanted to know, aged eight,
About what was busy about #business and how it
Differed from work,
why
Business required suits but
Work required overalls but
Dad was too tired to explain
and
Already a little deaf from the noise in the
Workshop.
Noone ever went deaf in business.
#poetry
#vss365
About what was busy about #business and how it
Differed from work,
why
Business required suits but
Work required overalls but
Dad was too tired to explain
and
Already a little deaf from the noise in the
Workshop.
Noone ever went deaf in business.
#poetry
#vss365
November 1, 2025 at 6:41 PM
What is fear for? A special spooky episode of the podcast open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ...
Happy Halloween!
open.spotify.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:36 AM
What is fear for? A special spooky episode of the podcast open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ...
Reposted by Karen (they/them)
A special episode all about fear! 😱👻🎃 open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ... #Halloween #LOTR #Tolkien #TRoP #HappyHalloween
Happy Halloween!
open.spotify.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 AM
A special episode all about fear! 😱👻🎃 open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ... #Halloween #LOTR #Tolkien #TRoP #HappyHalloween
A special episode all about fear! 😱👻🎃 open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ... #Halloween #LOTR #Tolkien #TRoP #HappyHalloween
Happy Halloween!
open.spotify.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 AM
A special episode all about fear! 😱👻🎃 open.spotify.com/episode/1flZ... #Halloween #LOTR #Tolkien #TRoP #HappyHalloween