Space To Be You

Perfect For

Finding someone to talk to when life feels difficult, overwhelming or simply not quite right. Space to Be You offers therapy and counselling for individuals, couples, families, and children, whether you’re navigating anxiety, relationship difficulties, grief, uncertainty, family dynamics or a period of change.

Why You’ll Love It

Space to Be You is a welcoming modern therapy practice based in Hackney E8, East London. Rather than offering one particular kind of therapy, its team works across a range of approaches, including CBT, psychotherapy, person-centred and psychodynamic therapy, as well as more specialist support.

That choice matters when you’re not entirely sure what you need. You might arrive knowing exactly what you want help with, or simply with the feeling that something isn’t working anymore. The aim is to help you find the therapist and approach that feels right for you.

What Makes It Special

Space to Be You is London’s largest private therapy practice, with 20 thoughtfully designed therapy rooms across two floors in Hackney, creating a dedicated space in the city for people to talk, reflect and be supported.

There’s flexibility too. Alongside face-to-face sessions, the practice offers online psychotherapy and counselling, making it easier to find support that fits around your life, wherever you are.

The If Lost Take

Sometimes the hardest part of therapy is knowing where to begin. Do I really need help? Is what I’m going through “enough”? What kind of therapist do I need? And what if I don’t yet have the words for what’s going on?

We like Space to Be You because you don’t need to arrive with those answers. You can begin exactly where you are: anxious, disconnected, uncertain, overwhelmed, struggling in a relationship or simply aware that you don’t feel quite like yourself. With a large and varied team of therapists and different approaches available, there’s space to find the kind of support that works for you rather than trying to make yourself fit a particular model.

And perhaps the name says something important too. Therapy doesn’t always have to be about becoming a different or “better” version of yourself. Sometimes it can simply be a space where you don’t have to perform, cope, look after everyone else or pretend that everything is fine. A space to be you feels like a pretty good place to start.

Founder’s Story | Creating More Space for Therapy

Space to Be You grew from a belief that finding good therapy should feel more accessible, human and personal. Its Hackney home brings together a diverse community of therapists under one roof, with different areas of expertise, therapeutic approaches and ways of working.

That breadth means the practice can support people through many different stages and experiences of life, while still recognising that therapy is deeply individual. The right support isn’t necessarily the same for everyone; what matters is finding the person and approach that feel right for you.

Founder’s Go-To Wellbeing Advice

"You do not have to be perfect to be worthy of peace, rest, and kindness. Just being here is enough."

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1st Floor, Mare Street Wing, St Joseph’s Hospice, Mare Street, London, E8 4SA, United Kingdom

Website

Email: contact@spacetobeyou.com

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Fiber Circle Studio: A conversation with Alisha Reyes on how making saved her

“Fiber Circle Studio, located in Sonoma County, CA, focuses on offering fiber related workshops, and equipment in the areas of weaving, spinning, fiber processing, sewing, dyeing, knitting, crocheting and felting. Our goal is to provide all levels of fiber artists, from new to expert, with all the resources, tools, knowledge and equipment to explore one’s creative journey in a place of community, support and inspiration.”

Some of us know our purpose right from the get-go; many of us don’t, we stumble on it. For Alisha Reyes, founder of Sonoma County’s Fiber Circle Studio, it took knitting a pair of socks at age 17 for her life to light up. Literally. At that time she was struggling with depression and ideas around self-worth, and it was that one seemingly tiny act that gave her hope.

Since that moment, Alisha has actively pursued workshops, mentors and teaching experiences to gain mastery of knitting. As she did so, she found she was good at it, like really good. When that pursuit wasn’t quite enough, Alisha headed to a farm in upstate Washington to understand the entire process of fiber, like from the sheep stage on, including spinning and dyeing. She was that committed!  Alisha is now a prophetess of the fiber arts but she’s also super approachable and down-to-earth and gets that even if you don’t self-identify as a maker, you get to do it too. 

About 18 months ago, at the beginning of 2018, all Alisha’s knowledge got poured into a bricks and mortar space in Cotati, called Fiber Circle Studio. For months before the opening, Alisha collected weaving looms, spinning wheels, sewing machines and drum carders, which all got stored in her 700 square foot home (there’s that commitment showing up again) and which now fill this space instead. She faced down all those barriers to starting an actual space for creatives: like insurance, rent, parking, licenses, you know all the scaffolding that can make our dreams but sometimes make the kind of walls that we don’t want to be building instead. Then there were, and still are, those more personal issues to contend with like money, time, experience, self-value and family time, as well as the reality of being only 28 years old and a mother of two.

Alisha’s getting it done though despite these hurdles. Fiber Circle Studio is a sweet wonderland of making. There are areas for all the fiber arts, like weaving, fiber processing, dyeing, crochet, and knitting, a kitchen station for dyeing, a couple of tables to gather and workshop, even a library of books about process available for members. As Alisha will tell you, “It’s a busy life, but to have all of these incredible things going on in my life is so fulfilling!’ 

Fiber Circle Studio is designed to support people however they come to the fiber arts. Sometimes that’s with a workshop that starts someone weaving, trying something new, and using their hands again. Building confidence and interest. Or offerings for people at the intermediate and advanced levels, who have exhausted other retail and book-based resources. Recent workshops have brought in fiber artists from Indonesia to explore batik and New Mexico to learn about inkle weaving.

There’s also a membership option, where people get to use the space and tools however and whenever they need, returning again and again to work on their pieces, share their skill, and maybe even collaborate with the person on the loom over. This is a space that works across breadth and at depth, and one of the few places in the US that operates this way in the area of the fiber arts.

And there’s also that community piece, that goes beyond nurturing a potential talent, such as tapestry weaver Keyaira Terry who got her start here, but is also about nurturing us as people and us in community. Fiber Circle Studio isn’t about making in isolation, it’s about making in community and in relation to yourself. That’s evident in programs like Craftaholics Anonymous, but also in the very DNA of this space – it’s all relational, to self and to others. The strands of a life sit here; Fiber Circle Studio exists to help you weave them together, however that makes sense to you.

MAKING SPACE:

With Alisha Reyes, Founder, Fiber Circle Studio

Why was a physical space important to you?

To have a place of engagement and interaction. To provide space and equipment for people to explore a creative journey in an inspiring and supportive environment.

What advice would you give to other creatives thinking of starting a bricks and mortar?

Set a budget, list your absolute needs as well as negotiable desires. Envision, plan and do it!  

What does community mean in the context of Fiber Circle Studio?

Community is about sharing knowledge, inspiring others and being inspired, growing and evolving on a creative journey alongside others. Making connections and providing opportunities! 

To find out more: Website www.fibercirclestudio.com / Facebook @fibercirclestudio / Instagram @fibercirclestudio