Hello lovelies
I’m writing this while the weather is seriously cooling down, after an amazing summer – and we’re now ready (if not necessarily willing) to go into Autumn. And I am taking a last gasp, very late summer holiday to my beloved Fethiye in SW Turkey, which is usually a cue for work to get busy. And while I have my always have my laptop with me, there are certain things, like TV appearances, that are just not possible from a sun lounger sadly…
While July and August are generally quieter months for work, the ‘show’ goes on and I still managed a few TV appearances, including Sky News, Good Morning Britain and one of the last episodes of The Wright Stuff, now (rightly) renamed and taken over by Jeremy Vine.
One of the things I am really focusing on at the moment is my TV psych assessment and Duty of Care Work. I am the Consultant Psychologist on Good Morning Britain and work behind the scenes on a lot of other TV shows, including the BBC’s Back in Time for the Factory, which is being broadcast as I write (Sept) and was a joy to work on. In my next newsletter, I’ll reflect on what happened during Celebrity Big Brother and why I felt compelled to speak out about the importance of psych assessments, duty of care and contestant support.
But even before that happened, there has been a lot of focus on the responsibility of production companies to their participants and I talked about this at length on BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat. I also contributed to the psychological welfare of participants on Loose Women and ITV News.
Writing wise, these past few weeks have been the usual unpredictable mixture of topical/celebrity news. There’s been a lot of speculation on Caroline Flack and Andrew Brady’s on/off/on again relationship – and I have been asked to comment on this for New!, Star and Reveal magazines amongst others.
With summer being peak Love Island time, there has also been a lot of questions and contributions about dating and relationships. Not just the relationships within Love Island (though thank you Daily Mirror for letting me go on about these endlessly) but also Grazia on the point at which you should delete your dating apps when in a relationship as well as moving in together in your 30’s; BBC Radio 5 Live on dating as a single mum; BBC News on why dating apps might be bad for your mental health and OK Magazine on what’s going on in David and Victoria Beckham’s relationship.
I’ve also written pretty regularly for the Daily Mail, most recently on a study which reported that middle aged women were more miserable than ever before as well as another study which reported how the middle aged were lonelier than ever before. Not the cheeriest of topics…
On a more frivolous note, I’ve also written my regular celebrity musings for New!; for The Sun on why sibling squabbling is sometimes good for you; Fabulous magazine on why men fantasize about their wive’s sisters (thanks Kanye!); The Daily Telegraph on what we can teach our daughters about the true essence of beauty; Cosmopolitan on why we’re obsessed with TV thrillers (and there are some great ones about as we head into Autumn) – and Metro on why we also love watching gross and shocking TV.
Also a LOT of radio. For those who listen to BBC Radio London, BBC Radio 5 Live, Talk Radio or LoveSport Radio – you’re probably very bored listening to me pontificating on any subject from Trump to revenge. But a big shout out to Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London drive time show – one of the nicest men ever and always a pleasure to talk to!
I’ll wrap it up there and wish you all a lovely September – I’ll see you next month. Meanwhile for more of my musings, you’ll find me @TVPsychologist on Twitter.
With love
Jo
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