Lisa Harris
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS14-01672
Location: Hull
If you are considering therapy, and wondering what might be the right option for you from the many available privately, we can arrange a no obligation 60 minute initial consultation session.
A conversation to look at your options together, I can answer any of your questions and you could then make a fully informed decision.
You are under no obligation to book a further session with me following this first conversation. I will offer you other suggestions if it becomes clear you could be best helped by a professional with different specialisms, when I know you a little better, or you may naturally wish to take some time to think and reflect about our conversation.
It is important to me you are able to work with someone who is appropriately trained and experienced to meet your needs, and that you feel confident and informed in your decision making.
I have been working as a therapist full time since 2007. I have gained significant counselling experience with adults, and young people. I have worked extensively with anxiety, stress, depression, relational difficulties and many other complex issues.
I have continued to access further training throughout my career and have developed particular specialisms in Brain Injury, and in Trauma, (especially in PTSD and cPTSD). You can read more about the kinds of therapy I am trained to offer, and my experience below.
My premises are easy to find; minutes from the shopping retail park at Kingswood on the outskirts of Hull, a short ride from the city centre, and on a main bus route. There is ample private free parking and my practice is based in an anonymous and confidential setting.
* I offer sessions online via zoom*
I understand it may feel difficult to explore your feelings and experiences with a stranger. This is not unusual, some describe it as difficult to make the first contact. However something I hear most often is that after our first meeting there is relief to discover I can help you make sense of your struggles or experiences and it's something they wish they had done earlier.
Meeting for the first time for a conversation without committing to anything further can be a helpful first step to finding a way forward without pressure.
I assure you I'll walk your path with you professionally and ethically, with great care, compassion, understanding, and importantly, at your pace. This will be your safe space, nobody else's.
A Personalised journey
I will tailor your therapy to you, not give you a standard 'one size fits all' option. You and your experiences are unique. I value and respect this completely so your suggested therapy will be unique to you, and any therapeutic approach or process will have a clear rationale.
If it is appropriate, requested or required, a treatment plan for specialist trauma work will be informed by a full assessment with your consent and input.
I will offer you a supportive, compassionate, non-judgemental, confidential environment to explore your feelings. I will endeavour to make sure you feel truly heard and emotionally safe to do so. Together, we will look at the most helpful and supportive way for you to manage or move forward.
I am warm in nature, understanding, genuine and honest, and I have a sense of humour. I will value each part of you, however hurt, defensive, worried, or scared you may feel.
How long will it take?
Some things can be worked through in short term work over a few sessions, some things over several months, or years. We really are all different, as are our experiences.
This is something we would discuss during our initial appointment when I can understand and consider your own circumstances, symptoms, history and hopes for an outcome.
What is most important is we consider a way forward personal to you and review our work together regularly together.
My experience is that relationship and trust between a client and their therapist is essential, and along with the skills of the therapist, most important in terms of growth and progress.
My purpose is to listen to you, and I will.
My Professional memberships
* I am a member of the Accredited Voluntary register, British Association For Counselling & Psychotherapy, Registered (MBACP)
Certificate number 070237
This means I agree to abide by an Ethical Framework, a complaints procedure, attend regular clinical supervision as well as take responsibility for continued professional development.
* I am a divisional member of the BACP Spirituality, which honours spirituality, belief and pastoral care in counselling and psychotherapy.
BACP Spirituality is for counsellors, psychotherapists, pastoral carers, chaplains and related professionals whose own work and world view, or whose client's world view, is informed by a spiritual perspective.
It offers a rich opportunity to make links with others who share and are interested in a broad range of related subjects and beliefs.
BACP Spirituality was formerly known as The APSCC - The Association for Pastoral and Spiritual Care and Counselling.
I am a Christian and work consistently and equally with clients who have no faith, have Christian faith, or who have another faith or spiritual belief which is important to them. I am happy to discuss this aspect with you should you have any questions.
* I am an Accredited member of the National Counselling society. Membership Number: NCS1401672
* I am a student member of the National Council of Psychotherapists (NCP) as I am a Traumatologist in training.
*I am a member of Pink Therapy which is the UK's largest independent therapy organisation working with gender and sexual diverse clients.
I have experience working with language translators, and with deaf clients and their sign interpreters.
Further information
When I was training to be a therapist, I attended many many hours of mandatory therapy myself. This deepened my understanding of the counselling process and the importance of the relationship between a therapist and a client. I have continued to engage in personal therapy since then, because life happens and we need to take responsibility to care for and value ourselves. I believe it is also essential a therapist continues to work on their own self awareness and has access to appropriate personal and professional support throughout their career.
Therapy enabled me to work through my own life experiences, my pain of losses and trauma, the prolonged deep depression I experienced and re-visited, my personal struggles to survive and learn to live with chronic health conditions and at times to just keep going in a life I didn’t think I could anymore. I understand from the inside the value of investing in personal therapy with a well trained and experienced professional.
I came to realise that how I was feeling, at times, was not all together as a result of something current. The root of it, or the core of the issue, was in my history. When I returned to this supported by my therapist to do so, I began to understand the coping strategies and defence mechanisms I had created and used, had become maladaptive. I was able to work towards finally freeing myself from things I had carried for years. I could facilitate this experience for you too.
I will always be along side you as an equal human being, not “the expert” who will offer a metaphorical prescription to “make you better” from an emotional distance. I am an experienced professional, but it is you who is an expert in your own life and experiences.
I won’t tell you what to do, I do not prescribe medication and I do not give you a label or diagnosis. If a formal diagnosis could be helpful or have importance for you in some way, then we will discuss this and options will be explained to you.
I will listen to you carefully to ensure I understand your feelings and experiences, you know them best. When we share this understanding, together we can find a way forward.
I continue a commitment to work hard to be the professional I am today and provide a professional and ethical therapeutic practice. I not only care deeply about my work and profession, I care about each individual I work with, and I will care about you.
I am a Christian, and I work consistently with clients who have no faith, have Christian faith, or who have another faith or spiritual belief which is important to them. I am happy to discuss this with you should you have any questions.
I engage in regular clinical supervision in several ways; individually, in group supervision and in peer supervision.
This ensures I continue to be well connected in the profession, keep my skills updated and can be professionally and appropriately challenged and supported both as a therapist and supervisor.
All supervision is always bound by confidentiality agreements, client's anonymity is maintained.
Importantly, supervision supports me as a therapist and supervisor, and it safeguards you as a client.
