I retired as a BACP senior accredited person-centred counsellor in spring 2022. I worked in several settings – with victims of childhood sexual abuse; with people bereaved by murder and suicide; in community health projects; with family carers; as a student counsellor; for Employee Assistance Programmes; and in private practice.

I learned (directly from clients) about the importance of what I came to think of as a person’s ‘operating system’ – how they process information, make sense of the world, and fit in (or don’t); and how this then affects their experiences, sense of self, and relationships.

These ‘operating systems’ were many and varied – auditory processing, autism, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, face and building blindness, and synaesthesia. And, by far, the largest number of clients had yet another type of ‘operating system’ – being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). The sheer numbers of HSPs who came for counselling led me to take a particular interest in this group.