The last week has been classic November weather here in Stockholm, and in much of the country.

Just a week ago I was scuffing through the piles of leaves on the ground, kicking them up as I walked along with my kids. They were golden yellow and had that lovely crunchy sound under your feet as you walked. That was then.  Since then we've suffered daily from something ranging from a mist, to drizzle, to tonight's constant downpour.

Rain. Dark. Grey. Wet. An absent sun. November.

They are the words on everyones lips at the moment, and everyone's facebook status's. The leaves are now trodden on and mashed together, clumps on the footpath that are slippery and have completely lost their "fun factor".

I feel like a nasty mother waking my children, in what feels like the dead of the night each morning and I have to remind myself that it is a necessity, and that I am not torturing them for the fun of it. We walk to and from school in the dark and they are ready for dinner by 4.30pm, simply because it feels so late. "Why is it so dark mummy" they each ask, wanting an explanation, struggling to understand. I wish I had a good answer for them.

So to combat the darkness I set up the timer on a lamp last night, which promted me to add a few more items to last week's list:

14. Put timers on your lights so they turn on just before/after your alarm goes off in the morning and     just before you get home from work/school.

15. Go to the local pool, it is great to get about in your swimsuit/bathers and be reminded of the warmer weather. It is also nice to have a few less clothes on for a change.

16. Make the most of any sauna at the gym, the pool or anywhere you can access one. The heat is great in the winter, it gets right in under the skin and makes me feel like I am somewhere else for a few precious moments, or as long as I can stand it. Again it is nice to have a lot less clothes on.

17. Change the colour theme in your home. Stay a way from the cool, dark colours and go for white. If you ever wondered why so many Swedish homes are spartan white then one November here will convince you it is the right way to go - but add some warmth with splashes of bright colours - reds, yellows and oranges are great at this time of year.

18. I've said it before, I say it again - have parties! It is great to be able to keep drinks and food outside, it's like having an extra fridge.

If however, you are struggling with the darkness, rest assured that our rate of loss of light has slowed down. We are now only losing about 4 minutes a day, that's 28 minutes this week. And with about a month to go until the Winter Solice, when the days start getting longer again, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It's just a very long November tunnel...

Hang in there....

On a less urgent level, if you would like to contact a psychotherapist or counsellor, these are available privately. Most will have specialities – family, marriage, group, children and young people – and differences in their approach. You should ensure they are ‘legitimerad psykoterapeut’ which means they have been university trained on an accredited course, and that they have fulfilled certain requirements while practising.

Your family doctor can be a good place to start, each Vårcentral usually has a couple of counsellors on the team who will be able to advise you where to turn.

By far the best way to find a psychotherapist is through personal recommendation because there are a number of different organisations therapists can be affiliated with. Some are more credible than others and it can be complex to find out which.

It is also possible to search for counsellors on a couple of sites on-line (most are all in Swedish but the search is relatively simple):

• National Psychotherapy Associaton: A national registry of certified and experienced psychotherapists.
  
• Behavioural Therapists Association: allows you to search behavioural therapists according to three categories - basic psychotherapy qualifications, certified psychoterapists and coaches.
  
• Swedish Association of Cognative and Behavioural Therapists  - allows you to search cognitive psychotherapists according to their location.
• Psychology Guiden: A general guide to psychology providing which also provides an opportuinty to ask direct questions to a team of psychologists and search for practices according to location and specialty.

If you don't find any of these sites useful you might find more information going through this link list of institutes and associations.

Your local municipality
Each kommun offers services which can be found by searching on familjerådgivning (family counselling). There speciallty is in the area of couple therapy and the waiting lists can be long but the fee is nominal (around 200kr per visit).

The Swedish Church
Svenska Kyrkan offers counselling services in a range of areas. Contact your local church for more information.

In the big cities, it should be possible to find specialists who will be able to speak your native language (possibly even as a mother tongue) but this will be more of an issue in more rural areas.
Expect to pay between 500 and a 1000kr per session although this will vary. Discounts may sometimes be available for students.

If you believe you - or somebody close to you - has a medical psychiatric condition (depression, nervous breakdown, psychosis, suicidal thoughts and so on), your first contact point is your local doctor. They can then refer you to an appropriate specialist or advise you how to proceed. It is possible to go straight to open sessions at many psychiatric special units but the waiting time can be long and there is no guarantee you’ve selected the correct specialist.

Emergency psychiatric teams available for call-out if a situation is urgent and many hospitals have specialist wards for short or long-term stays. The best place to start if in need of emergency help is to call 112.

There is a national help line available for psychiatric advice on    020 22 00 60. It is a free call and you can ring anonymously or on behalf of someone. They are open in the evenings but it can be busy and take some time to get through. More information is available at www.nationellahjalplinjen.se.

Another point of contact is PHIR – Psychiatric health information register  www.phir.se is an internet service listing all forms of support in the public and private sector as well as voluntary organisations. While it started as a Stockholm-based site they aim to make information country wide. There is a lot of useful information here, including a definition of professions and types of help available. Unfortunately it is only available in Swedish.

Specialist clinics exist for children and young people. BUP (Barn och ungdomspskiatri) provides counselling services free of charge to young people and their families. You do not need a referral and there are emergency services available. They are also specialised to deal with problems such as asylum seekers, disabled children, sexually abused children and so on. This website www.bup.nu is primarily for teenagers in Stockholm needing help or wanting to know more about psychiatric care. However, the website include a lot of useful links for people all over Sweden:
-    A list of all BUPs can be found through ‘länkar’ (links) and then ‘mottagningar’ (clinics);
-    Hjälptelefoner lists the Help Lines;
-    Habitering lists links for people with a disability;
-    Patient- och intresseorganisationer lists organisations for people suffering from mental illness.

There are also links relevant to adoption and under “övriga” you will find a range of “other” links.

Phir.se
This website is a search engine for those in need of pschological help, their family or carers. The site is set up by and aims to give information about public, private and voluntary therapists. They also aim to give general information about mental health, professions, costs etc. Most of the information is in Swedish.

Röda Sidorna
This website is aimed at children or their guardians and is a seach engine set up by BRIS (Children's Rights In Society) giving an overview of who can help in a variety of situations.

If you want to find or start up a self-help group contact Fenix who specialise in helping people start their own groups.