Charlotte Hastings

My hours are currently flexible arranged around the various different elements of my practice.  I will work with you to find a time that works for us.

My approach combines Jungian depth psychology with attachment theory, seeing therapy as a nurturing, mutual, vital journey. You will find in me a committed, creative, open and connected therapist; led by compassionate enquiry, adaptive to your personal therapeutic needs and goals.

Being in my third and final act of life, I have a plenty of varied experience to draw upon, consistently guided by an interest in the human condition.

 As an only child I became a ‘keen, empathic observer’ - a therapeutic stance we need to take for ourselves. 

 As a parent and teacher I became neurodiverse aware. Finding (and enjoying) our unique human expression, is a key therapeutic goal.

 Becoming a therapist in the same term I started teaching cooking in the community, I became a kitchen therapist. Food can be a shared language we have always known.

 As an author and broadcaster, I have learned to trust in the personal creative process. I look forward to discovering yours, as we navigate life’s experience together.

As human, we are designed to need and offer help with one another. Reaching out for that help might feel unfamiliar, might require huge courage, maybe a leap of faith. However, when we ask for help our healing journey can begin, and I would love to travel with you, wherever you need to go.

Finding the right guide for our particular life path we are currently treading, is a crucial part of the process. It is often a highly sensitive, emotionally charged time, and not easy to make the right choice. That’s why I offer you a free half hour initial conversation, to see if and how I might be of help at this time.

I work from my garden studio in the outskirts of Brighton where there is room for individual and couple work.  Online sessions provide their own security, flexibility and comfort.

Individual sessions are 50 minutes, couple sessions an hour.  Cooking sessions will be between 1-2 hours depending on our agenda.

You  will find in me someone who loves their work, offering complete commitment to establishing therapeutic pathways.  As a fellow human traveller, you will have my total respect, for yourself and for the symptoms you carry - however hard they are to manage, our symptoms express deep need for healing and help us understand ourselves.  They are our guides into the inner world.

Our work could best be described as 'practical play', requiring our curiosity, courage and collaboration to unlock your fullest potential and lasting wellbeing.

Before starting our work, we will have had an online conversation to see how we will work together.  Following this, I will send you a brief questionnaire to consider your goals for therapy and current situation.  Whilst the goals and context for therapy may of course change, they provide an initial framework that helps guide our work.

The first few sessions may have more questions than usual as I gather a picture of your background and current situation, needs and hopes for therapy.  You will find a lively conversation that deepens self awareness and a sense of inner connection, providing the groundwork for future development.

Training events and workshops will be announced on the website; however, if you are interested in providing training for yourself or members of your organisation, please get in touch to arrange bespoke training in using food, cooking and eating as a therapeutic arena.

Kitchen Sessions is run by myself in Brighton and Sheila Erskine, lecturer in Social Work, in Aberdeen.  We are coordinating a 4 nation approach and work across the UK.

Our vision: To make food therapy an integral part of health and care, accessible and beneficial to all

Our mission:  To train health and care professionals to use food therapy in the services they provide

Kitchen Sessions CIC is a non-profit organisation promoting the use of food, cooking and eating as a therapeutic arena for the benefit of all.

We provide training to people working in the welfare professions including counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches, occupational therapists, social workers and mental health professionals.  Aiming to create joined up, collaborative, effective approach to community welfare.

About us:  Our aim is to support, encourage and enable the use of food as an inclusive therapeutic approach to wellbeing, building creative confidence and intrinsic resource.

We foster healthy attachment relationships and promote ‘human village’ behaviours through the preparation, pleasure and sharing of food.  Sessions are organised around specific themes covering the four key areas that reconnect us with our instinctual life:

Attachment nutrition: recognising food as a relational bridge across time and space.

Creative confidence: cooking is the basis of creativity, technology and transformation for humans

Community casseroles:  it takes a village to raise a meal, so around the campfire or watering hole we develop interdependence

Edible spirituality: rewilding the human spirit with Nature as our guide to reconnect with our instinctual, intuitive sense.

We run workshops and online training events across the UK.

Experiential workshops are currently from Brighton with a view to delivering in Scotland in the coming year.

We currently aim for small groups (between 4-8 practitioners) which offer plenty of time and space to explore our personal relationship with food as part of a personal and professional development process.

At the heart of our mission is providing practical, accessible and affordable training that supports practitioners in this highly adaptive, multi sensory, nature-based approach of 'kitchen therapy'.

Our online sessions are timed to include partners across the globe for diverse and enlivening conversations, sharing best practice, ideas and food for thought!

Sessions are currently arranged as stand alone workshops with a view to build longer courses which will be accredited.

Join our mailing list to find out more, when the next workshop will be or to simply book a discovery tool to see how you can use a kitchen therapy approach in your personal and professional practice.