Latest news with #psychotherapist
Forbes
24-05-2025
- Forbes
Cozyla Calendar+ 2: The Digital Hub That Keeps My Life Organized
For my entire adult life, I've struggled with time management: I've been five minutes late to appointments, spent way too much time hyper-focused on an assignment, put off important errands because I buried my Post-It note reminder and more. Under the medical guidance of a psychotherapist, I've since learned I most likely have ADHD, and there's nothing wrong with me. But my executive-functioning challenges still stand. The Cozyla Calendar+ 2, a digital calendar, promised to help organize all my calendars, to-do lists and more to give structure to my daily routine. To help organize my schedule and daily tasks, I turned to the Cozyla Calendar+ 2. To reduce the pile of unread Post-It note reminders on my desk, I added the Cozyla Calendar+ 2 to my home. I found that it was a great way to increase my daily productivity and keep tabs on all of my to-dos and tasks, but there are a few downsides. Read on to learn more about my experience with the Cozyla Calendar+ 2. Amazon At first glance, the Cozyla Calendar+ 2 looks and acts like an oversized tablet. (The review unit I received was the 32-inch–the largest size on offer–so think a gigantic tablet.) It has an LCD touchscreen, syncs with Google Calendar, can access Google Play Store, streams videos and lets you browse the web. It also has an HDMI and one USB-C and USB-A port, but they're tucked behind the calendar, so don't plan to constantly connect any peripherals. You can also customize the background and add widgets, like a clock and a weather app. There are plenty of screensaver options too; I chose a moving fireplace. The difference between a mere tablet and this device, though, is that it's a lot easier to organize the apps you need on its massive, crisp display. The box only came with installation instructions, not how to operate the software, which I found to be a big con (and more on that in a minute). Still, I was able to figure it out eventually after booting up and tinkering with it, which shows how intuitive its software is. Despite its lack of setup instructions, the Cozyla Calendar+ 2 was easy to set up. Syncing those apps was easy too: I set up both my personal Google calendar and my work's Outlook calendar. I also could set up multiple Task Lists and my Notepad, a notes app that syncs up with my iPhone's notes. A highlight for me was that I could set up both a monthly view and daily view of my calendar. A glance at the Cozyla is all I need now to remind myself of what and when my next meeting is, as well as which May weekend exactly my partner and I are supposed to go upstate. While the 15.6- or 24-inch version of this calendar could have sufficed for my needs, the large size and vibrancy of the 32-inch display is actually a big part of why this device has been a game changer when it comes to organizing my life. Instead of having to log onto my laptop, open multiple apps on my phone or hunt through my notebook or notepad for the information I need, the Cozyla syncs all this info for me. I can glance at the Cozyla's screen from my desk and see if there's anything left on my to-do list for the day, or what time I have to be at that workshop I planned to attend. Another perk: when the screensaver is on, I can still see upcoming events in the bottom left corner of the screen. For families, the Cozyla Calendar+ 2 can help keep organized across busy work schedules, team practices and more. That's because you can create individual profiles for each family member, each of whom can manage their own schedule while being able to see the schedules of the entire group at the same time. Check the weather, review your to-do lists and more from the large, 32-inch display. There are also other apps I don't need, like a meal planner and a chore chart that has reminder features and a reward system. Considering this calendar's $900 price tag, I think it would be best suited for families or maybe teams who need to maintain a complex season schedule. That said, as a neurodivergent person, I would be quite happy with the 15.6-inch model, which is significantly less at $400. Surprisingly, my biggest complaint about the Calendar+ 2 is the installation process, which took me probably three times as long as setting up the software. I mainly blame its sheer size: The 32-inch model weighs over 33 pounds. Because I didn't have any help with me, this was the biggest (no pun intended) impediment. Combined with the fact that the part of the device that slides into the wall mount is so close to the wall that my knuckles kept being grazed painfully, I accidentally dropped and cracked it. Plan to get a friend to help you mount it; the calendar could really benefit from two sets of hands. Luckily, the device is built sturdily enough that its operation wasn't affected. The company also sent me the magnetic wood frame (which you can get bundled with the calendar for $100 extra) which came in handy at mostly covering any evidence of the accident. Installing that frame was a breeze by comparison, too. If you mount this calendar to the wall, plan to ask another person for help. Better yet, if you have the budget, get it with the rolling stand. Bottom line: I'm keeping the Cozyla Calendar+ 2 on my wall. It's been incredibly helpful with keeping me organized and on track, and it's probably because I use the apps on it a whole lot more than I did when they were on separate devices. That said, the model I received is incredibly pricey at $800; the 15.6- or even the 24-inch models would have more than sufficed for my needs. But if you're a busy family with varying schedules or a team who share a workspace and want a more hands-on way to stay on task and accomplish goals, you'll find this machine a great way to streamline your scheduling, task-delegating and at-a-glance communications.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
There's no excuse for chopping down a thing of beauty. And I don't just mean the Sycamore Gap tree
I was moved to read of the grief expressed by so many at the brutal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree. I found it surprising. Not the crime itself: I know well the unconscious drive we all have within us to destroy good things – the most valuable, the most beautiful, the most life-affirming things. What took me by surprise was the capacity that so many people found within themselves to express their devastation and anger at this painful loss, not only to us as individuals, but as a nation. On the day the perpetrators were found guilty, I was reeling in my own private grief. I'd just read a different news story that told of another brutal cutting-down: again the destruction of something beautiful and valuable with deep roots, that stood for growth and possibility and life. The article, on this website, told how among other 'savings', talking therapies services are to be cut 'as part of efforts by England's 215 NHS trusts to comply with a 'financial reset''. As a patient in psychoanalysis that I pay for privately because I am privileged enough to be able to afford it; as a psychodynamic psychotherapist working in the NHS because I passionately believe that people should have access to good, sustained mental health treatment regardless of their means; and as your columnist writing about how to build a better life – I find this to be morally wrong. Just as I was not surprised by the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree, I am not surprised by these further cuts to talking therapy on the NHS. The flesh is so thin on the bone already, there is precious little now to cut, with patients facing the (bad) luck of the draw of patchy, postcode lottery-style provision. Many of us as individuals have a tendency to diminish our own mental anguish – to feel that physical pain is somehow more worthy. This is why it is unsurprising that we tolerate such meagre offerings of sustained psychotherapy on the NHS. It is why we have to have a law that mental health and physical health should be treated with parity of esteem – because deep down, we do not do this within ourselves. That law, incidentally, is the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which states it is the Secretary of State for Health's duty to 'continue the promotion of a comprehensive health service designed to secure improvement […] in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental illness'. How can he possibly fulfil this duty if the already limited offer of psychotherapy is reduced even further? Whether talking therapy services are scrapped altogether, or treatments are shortened and cheapened and replaced with 'interventions', it seems important to see the truth of what is happening here. There will be cuts to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy in its different modalities is a potent treatment that has been proven again and again, in study after study and in patient after patient, to be effective for many people suffering with mental illness – and, in the case of sustained psychodynamic psychotherapy, to grow more effective over time after treatment ends. Patients can use it and get better. Do we understand this? That psychotherapy works? Of course it doesn't always work, and it is not always indicated for everyone – like any other treatment. But for many, it works. It saves lives. It keeps people out of hospital. It enables people to get back into work. It can repair relationships. It can restore self-respect. It can allow people to stand tall when they have previously had to drag themselves along the ground. It is a treatment that works, and it is being cut, so people will have even less chance of being offered it than they do now. We need to find within ourselves the kind of anger and sadness at cutting down our mental health services that some have found within themselves at the cutting down of the Sycamore Gap tree. This tree found its home in an empty hollow and grew strong and true and beautiful. Psychotherapy can help people do that too. And what will fill the gap left when psychotherapy is cut down? The usual things people turn to when they are struggling and they feel hopeless, uncared-for and forgotten – none of them good. Suicidality; addiction; relationship and family breakdown. If we want to build a better life, for ourselves and our families and our fellow citizens, we need to do something about this. We need to fight for our cause; we need to protest in the streets and bring legal challenges and write (politely and firmly) to our MPs. We need to demand the Health Secretary fulfil his responsibilities outlined by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. We need to stand up and make it politically impossible for this government that talking therapies provision be further diminished; the NHS must offer psychotherapy treatment for anyone who needs it and who can use it. Receiving and offering psychotherapy has taught me that we all have it in us to cut down and destroy beautiful things – but we also have it in us to come together in our grief, to repair, to help each other, to do good things, to stand up when we see that something is deeply morally wrong. That is how we build a better life not only for ourselves but also for each other. Moya Sarner is an NHS psychotherapist and the author of When I Grow Up – Conversations With Adults in Search of Adulthood Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- CTV News
How to talk with children about sexual assault
Psychotherapist Ivana Kolakovic discusses how high-profile sexual assault cases may end up on children's social media feeds.
CTV News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Ex-model testifying that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her questioned about private journal
Kaja Sokol arrives at Manhattan criminal court before the start of Harvey Weinstein's trial in New York, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Bing Guan/Pool Photo via AP) NEW YORK — A former teen fashion model testifying in Harvey Weinstein's retrial on sexual assault charges was confronted on the stand Tuesday with a private journal where defence attorneys say she wrote about people who sexually abused her. Kaja Sokola told the Manhattan jury on her third day on the witness stand that the journal named at least two people who had sexually assaulted her. Neither one, she acknowledged, was the disgraced former Hollywood mogul. 'It proves that I have not spoken about this for many years,' she offered up tearfully as Weinstein's lawyer and then the judge attempted to cut her off. The Polish model, now a 39-year-old psychotherapist, also confirmed under questioning that the 'Pulp Fiction' producer was mentioned in the journal as having wronged her, but for altogether different reasons. Under an entry for 'Harvey W' she wrote that he was 'promising me help,' but 'nothing came out of it.' Earlier, Sokola had protested that the journal, which she wrote in Polish in 2015, shouldn't be discussed in open court as she'd written it as part of a substance abuse treatment program. She explained that one of the steps of treatment was to list all the people and things with which she held resentment. 'This is very inappropriate,' Sokola pleaded as one of Weinstein's attorneys began to cite portions of the text to the jury. 'Please don't read that. This is my personal things. I'm not on trial here.' Judge Curtis Farber assured Sokola, as the jury took its lunch break, that he would only permit limited questioning around the document. He also said he had concerns about the journal's completeness and authenticity, wondering how defence lawyers had obtained what appears to be private medical records. 'This might backfire tremendously' for the defence, Farber said at one point, as prosecutors also strongly opposed inclusion of the journal as evidence in the trial. 'That's the risk they're willing to take.' Sokola testified last week that Weinstein exploited her dreams of an acting career to subject her to unwanted sexual advances, starting days after they met in 2002, while she was a 16-year-old on a modeling trip to New York. Some of those allegations are beyond the legal time limit for criminal charges, but Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge over Sokola's claim that he forced oral sex on her in 2006. Prosecutors added the charge to the landmark #MeToo case last year, after an appeals court overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction. The guilty verdict pertained to allegations from two other women, who also have testified or are expected to testify at the retrial. Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty and denies ever sexually assaulting anyone. His lawyers, in their cross-examination of Sokola that began Friday, have sought to raise doubts about her allegations, portraying her as a wannabe actor who tried to leverage her consensual relations with the former studio boss. The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted, but Sokola has given her permission to be identified. ___ Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
BreakingNews.ie
13-05-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Ex-model testifying in Weinstein sex trial questioned about private journal
A former teenage fashion model giving evidence in Harvey Weinstein's retrial on sexual assault charges has been confronted in the witness box with a private journal in which defence lawyers say she wrote about people who sexually abused her. As one of Weinstein's lawyers began to question her about the handwritten journal, Kaja Sokola protested that it should not be discussed in open court as she had written it as part of a substance abuse treatment programme years ago. Advertisement 'This is very inappropriate,' she pleaded as the lawyer began to cite portions of the text, which they say was originally written in Polish in 2015. 'Please don't read that. This is my personal things. I'm not on trial here.' Judge Curtis Farber dismissed the jury for a lunch break as Ms Sokola began to get emotional. He assured her later that he would allow the jury to hear limited questioning around the document. The judge also said he had concerns about the journal's completeness and authenticity, wondering how defence lawyers had obtained what appeared to be private medical records. Advertisement 'This might backfire tremendously' for the defence, Judge Farber said at one point, as prosecutors also strongly opposed inclusion of the journal as evidence in the trial. 'That's the risk they're willing to take.' Ms Sokola, who is now a 39-year-old psychotherapist, continued to push back. 'This is unethical,' she said to the judge. 'I would never do this to my patient, and I would never do this to myself.' Michael Cibella, one of Weinstein's lawyers, told Judge Farber that the defence team intends to question Ms Sokola about a part of the journal which describes at least five sexual assaults she has suffered over her life. Advertisement Harvey Weinstein in court (Bing Guan/AP) Weinstein, they say, is not among those she named, though he does appear elsewhere in the journal. They say she references her frustration and disappointment after a 'Harvey W' had led her along, 'promising me help' but 'nothing came out of it'. Ms Sokola told the court last week that Weinstein exploited her dreams of an acting career to subject her to unwanted sexual advances, starting days after they met in 2002 when she was a 16-year-old on a modelling trip to New York. Some of those allegations are beyond the legal time limit for criminal charges, but Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge over Ms Sokola's claim that he forced oral sex on her in 2006. Prosecutors added the charge to the case last year after an appeals court overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction. The guilty verdict pertained to allegations from two other women, who also have testified or are expected to give evidence at the retrial. Advertisement Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone. His lawyers, in their cross-examination of Ms Sokola that began on Friday, have sought to raise doubts about her allegations, portraying her as an aspiring actress who tried to leverage her consensual relations with the former studio boss.
