About Us

Prior to becoming a therapist I worked with troubled young people. For many years I worked in a project that supported young girls who were involved in sexual exploitation or were survivors of it. This led me into drug education and I often taught teenagers about how to avoid grooming in schools. I did further work with adolescents (boys and girls) who were socially disadvantaged, drug users or children of drug addicts. I worked with a number of charities doing similar work for a long time. But then I felt I wanted to take a different direction from support and teaching work. I wanted to be able to work at a deeper level.

When I gained an MA in Integrative Psychotherapy I began working with people at this depth. I gained an interest in personality disorders and did further training. I also studied shorter-term treatments such as hypnotherapy, NLP, EFT and EMDR. I have always had a thirst for knowledge and I have never succeeded in quenching it. I wanted to learn what helps people. I explored many ‘alternative healings’ and even trained in some of them myself out of my own personal interest. In recent years I have found myself drawn to people and their spirituality. I think religious and spiritual beliefs are a vital part of someone’s psyche.

I had four years of rigorous psychotherapy training where I had to attend my own personal therapy weekly. There was no way I could avoid my own issues. Four years then turned into five as I stayed and completed supervisor training. This gave me a greater diversity in my work as I also clinically supervise other therapists. I continue to learn. I read, I attend various training and workshops. I go to my own clinical supervisor regularly and from time to time I go back to therapy. But like you, I do most of my learning within our healing relationship together.

Katharine Northall