Karen Harrisskitt (BA Hons, MBACP)
About me
Hello, my name is Karen. I offer a trusting, warm and open environment to work therapeutically with you and share a space which provides you with an opportunity to talk in confidence and without judgement. I understand that at times, life can put pressure and strain on anyone and we can struggle to have clarity of thought when things become overbearing.
Working with a counsellor is a helpful experience when you are facing difficulties that may be impacting on your life, relationships or wellbeing. I can offer you support to work through those difficulties. I have experience in working therapeutically with couples, individuals and children. I am able to offer flexible appointment times.
My approach combines psychodynamic, systemic, mentalization, mindfulness and play therapy for children, this means that I can draw from a range of different types of therapies to best support you the client(s) to understand your current situation and how this may be impacting on you. Together, we can explore how you can learn to accept things or make adjustments to move forwards.
I work with individuals and couples for many different reasons, my approach is to draw on the modality which suits your needs best, in a confidential, calm, empathetic, sensitive and respectful way. I am trained and experienced in phone and webcam counselling, both very effective ways of working.
Thank you for reading more about me, if you think I may be the right counsellor for you or have any questions please call for a chat or email any questions to me.
If I am not the right counsellor for you I wish you well in finding support, I would encourage you to speak to somebody you can trust to help understand your difficulties.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications
- Diploma in Relationship Counselling (Relate)
- IAPT Couple Therapy for Depression (Tavistock Relations)
- Mentalization-based Therapy for Parenting under Pressure (Tavistock Relations)
- Mindfulness Practitioner Teacher Training course (Professional listing on UK Network of Mindfulness Teachers)
- BA Hons Degree
- L4 Counselling Children (Place2Be - ongoing)
- Award in Mental Health Awareness
- Helping Skills (Counselling Skills)
Training
- Mental Health First Aid (Mind)
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) (Mind)
- Mindfulness Practitioner Training programme
- Child Protection & Safeguarding
- Domestic Violence and Abuse
- Mental Health: Awareness
- Suicidal Risk and Support
- Webcam counselling
- Phone counselling
- GDPR and personal data handling
- Health Advocate training
Professional Bodies
- Member of British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
- Member of Institute of Family Therapy (IAFT)
- Listed on UK Network of approved Mindfulness Teachers
- Chartered Member of the institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD)
Member organisations
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
Accredited Register Scheme
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Couple therapy for depression CTfD
Mindfulness
Mentalization Based Therapy
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
Counselling Fees
Face ti face, Webcam/ phone counselling fees
Individual Phone/Webcam Counselling - £40 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £40 for each session.
Couple Phone/Webcam Counselling - £45 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £45 for each session.
I am happy to say face to face sessions are available again in Hartlepool, with Covid safety measures aligned with NHS guidelines in place.
Face to face fees
Individual Counselling - £40 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £40 for each session.
Couples Counselling - £45 for the Initial Consultation and £45 for subsequent sessions.
The duration of each session is 50 minutes. I ask that you pay for each session 24 hours in advance by bank transfer or by cash at the start of each session, cancellations are required 24 hours in advance.
Further information
Along with my private practice, I have experience of working within primary care settings as a Psychological Therapist working with individuals who are experiencing difficulties which impact on their wellbeing.
I work within the charity sector as a Relationship Therapist, working with couples experiencing difficulties in their relationship. I also offer specialist work with couples where one or both partners are experiencing depression and with couples where there is high conflict and they share concern about the impact of this on their children. More recently I have begun working voluntarily for Place2Be in primary school, counselling children on a long term basis.
All of my work is supervised and I work within Relate, Place2Be and BACP ethical guidelines, and within the ethical standards of UK network for Mindfulness Teachers.
As a counsellor I am open, warm, develop a trust and space which can be used to share their concerns or fear and I am committed to self-development and self-reflexivity.
I am a mindfulness teacher, listed on the UK Network of approved Mindfulness practitioners. I deliver Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme to private groups and businesses and I work in collaboration with ManHealth CIC, a local organisation supporting Men experiencing depression and mental health challenges.
