Harriet Cookson

Hello, I’m Harriet. I’m an experienced and compassionate therapist with over a decade’s experience supporting people with a wide range of emotional issues.

You may have been through some difficult and painful things in your life and need to heal the hurt. You may be struggling with feelings of loss and grief.  You may be wanting to understand and explore patterns that impact on your relationships. You may feel stuck and want to find a way forward. Or perhaps you are looking to find more sense of purpose, connection, creativity, energy and joy in your life, and to continue your journey of self awareness.

I bring warmth, integrity and creativity to my therapy work and believe that the most healing part of therapy is the relationship created with you during this process. I offer a space to share difficult feelings in a safe and supportive atmosphere, with curiosity and without judgement. If you would like to explore your situation and your feelings and talk about what is troubling you, please do get in touch.

Please feel free to contact me to arrange a free initial phone conversation. 

I offer you a welcoming, healing space for self-expression and exploration. I work in an integrative way, through individual counselling and art therapy. You can read more about art therapy below.

I am an experienced therapist, having worked for seven years as an art psychotherapist in mental health in the NHS. I now work exclusively in private practice. 

Issues that I deal with most often include self esteem, stress and burnout, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, relationship difficulties, grief, loss and bereavement, trauma, life transitions, and physical health conditions.

I use different psychological theories and approaches tailored to each individual. As well as offering talking therapy, I also offer arts psychotherapy (I am registered with the HCPC), where the combination of talking and creative work allows for a unique, non-threatening and yet effective way to explore life issues. You don’t need any artistic skill or experience to work with images. It can be surprisingly rewarding, and allows the expression of feelings which may be difficult to put into words. I also use mindfulness, relaxation and visualisation.

Further training in meditation and energy care over the past eight years have deepened my understanding of how to work with you as a whole person.

For more information including qualifications and professional memberships, please see my website:

harrietcookson.com

The introductory session will give us an opportunity to meet and for you to ask any questions you have. I will invite you to say something about yourself and what has led you to seek therapy. We can also begin to explore how we might work together. 

If we then decide to meet regularly, we will agree a number of sessions to begin with. Towards their completion, we will discuss what you have achieved and if we are going to continue. We can agree another block of sessions or work in an open-ended way.

Each session lasts 50 minutes and sessions are usually weekly.