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Who You'll Meet

Counselling Therapist and Founder of the Project - Kath Harbisher

Kath.jpg Head and shoulders picture of Kath Harbisher who is an utterly gorgeous grandmotherly type of person. She is over 60 but doesn't look a day over 42. Honest. She has white-blonde hair cut to shoulder length, green eyes and wears glasses. Adorable. She is wearing a black top printed with pink and white roses and is standing in front of spring green japanese style background with cherry blossom branches on it.s.

Welcome,

I'm guessing you're reading this because you'd like to get some idea of who I am and what I do as a therapist.

So, here we are, you and I.

You might be wondering how I go about therapy  -  it's like this:

You are the most important person in the room and I centre everything I do therapeutically around you and how you need therapy to work for you. We work with your vision and ideas of what therapy needs to look like. You might need different ways of therapy as we work through different things that are bothering you. That's absolutely fine and I adjust what I do to suit you.
We work together, in collaboration. You are the expert of yourself and your therapeutic needs and expectations. My job is to find ideas, perspectives, techniques and ways of doing things differently that help you make the changes you feel are right for you.

whattherapistsdo.jpg On a white background are stick style drawings of a woman therapist and a client. Inside the client's head is a tangled ball of coloured wool that represents their emotional distress. The therapist is holdinga thread of wool that comes out of the clients head and goes down to where the client is knitting this thread into a coloured scarf. It's about recognising that therapists don't fix people, they help people mend themselves.

I am here to help you unravel and make sense of the chaos in your head. I can't do it for you, but I can be there alongside you every step of the way until you can handle it by yourself. And you can learn to handle it, to keep everything in balance, live a joyful life, even though that might seem an impossible dream right now.

Together, we experiment and find different ways of doing things that enable you to manage these feelings that cause such distress and so get your life back in balance. Sometimes what we try won't work. That's OK, there is no 'right' way to resolve trauma as we are each utterly unique in how we respond and make meaning of our lived experiences. We recognise your individuality, diversity and differences and we keep experimenting until we find what does work for you because there is always something that will help. We just have to get curious, creative and think outside the box a little.

It will be tough and demanding emotional work. There's no escape from that. But, the pay-off is feeling yourself change into the person you want to be. 

butterflyemergingfromcocoon.jpeg On a grren background are 4 pictures that show a caterpillar becoming a chrysalis, then when it first emerges all shrunken from the chrysalis, then it half dried out and then fully dried out in all its glory.
butterflyinthesun.jpg Blurred background. In focus is a beautiful butterfly resting on a purple flower in the sun.

And the other stuff about me:

I am a Pluralistic Therapist. What this means is that my over-arching way of working with you will be about working together, collaborating and co-creating therapy into what you need it to be.
 
I have two degrees:
 BSc (Hons) in Systemic Counselling
 MA in Psychotherapeutic Practice
 
I've done a lot of self-directed education and undertaken courses to better understand and work with trauma so I can help you effectively.

I'm fully insured.
 
I keep up to date with reading and extra courses and have regular Clinical Supervision to ensure I'm working at my best.

I would never presume to think, not even for a moment, that  I have any real idea of what you have experienced might be like for you. What I think is not what matters here.

What you want to tell me or not tell me is always in your absolute control.

I don't like mental health illness labels.  Trauma is something that has happened to us, its consequences can be overwhelming, but it is not who we are.
 
I'm an old-timer with grown-up kids and grandchildren.
 
I swear a lot although I keep my language clean in the therapy room unless you like swearing too.

I like gin, cake and chocolate, together or separately, I'm not picky.

mycake.jpg Picture of my 60th birthday cake. It's mostly chocolate with a cream coloured icing driiping down the sides. It has loads of chocolate sweets on it. Malteasers, Twix, bits of Curly-Wurly - remember those? The cake itself is in colour but the background is black and white. I have no idea how I managed this effect but it just works.
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