Karl Harter

Trained as an Integrative Counsellor, I work using Person Centred Therapy, CBT and Transactional Analysis. In addition to this I’m trained to deliver Therapy Outdoors, which allows us to engage with nature while working therapeutically.

The counselling experience isn’t an ‘out of the box’ experience, it isn’t a case of just ‘topping up the fuel tank’ when we are running low. The end product might be similar, a sense of feeling refuelled and ready to hit the road again, but the experience is very different for each person. A young client once asked ‘how can you help me if you don’t know what life is like for me?’ what a wonderful question. The client had a good point, how could I help without knowing what life is like for them? This is the focus of my approach. When I work with people the first few sessions are like a ‘getting to know you’ process, the focus is on trying to understand what life is like for this person. I try and see life from the client’s perspective in order to begin a process of helping.

Clients sometimes contact me saying they constantly feel sad or suffer from stress, unable to focus or struggle to make sense of their thoughts. Anxiety is a very common condition which sometimes causes a person to experience ‘panic attacks’, I work with clients to address these issues. Together we will work to develop ways to explore this experience, helping clients deal with emotions and associated behaviours. Sometimes family issues, such as long-term neglect, abuse or abandonment are raised during sessions, these are just some of the reasons people attend counselling. The focus is not on how I can ‘fix’ your problems, but on how I can help you explore, understand, manage or accept what it is that you bring to therapy. I will work with you in a non-judgemental, empathic way to help you get to where you feel you need to be.

I have specific training and experience in bereavement counselling and additional training in working with trauma, depression, anxiety and victims of sexual abuse. In addition to my work with adults I have worked for almost 6 years with young people at the charity 'Off the Record Twickenham'. I have experience of working with clients suffering from anxiety, depression, anger, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, ADHD, Sexual Abuse, Suicide Ideation and Self-Harm.

I have worked with people who identify as: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and None Binary. In addition, I have experience of working with issues such as discrimination, coming out, identity, gender dysphoria, acceptance, self-image and self-acceptance. If you have any questions that are specific to your situation, I would be happy to discuss these with you in order for us to establish whether I am the right counsellor for you. I have a network of therapists that I can refer you to if I am not the best match, my priority is to get you the best support for your needs.

I am a Registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). I offer counselling and psychotherapy either indoors within a counselling room or outdoors in nature. Feel free to contact me for more information: email

Therapy Outdoors

£75 per hour

Concessionary rate £45

Therapy in Nature
The practice of conducting counselling and psychotherapy outdoors may seem a little strange to some. It certainly can feel a little unusual when we first start, but the whole process is about reconnecting us with nature through counselling and psychotherapy, and using that connection to move forward.

Nature therapy is based on the idea that we are all connected to the environment around us, you may have experienced this without knowing. For example, when it’s raining and cloudy outside often we can feel a little down and miserable, yet when it’s sunny and warm it can have the opposite effect. This is probably the most basic observation we can possibly make in relation to Nature Therapy, but if we look a little deeper and explore other connections there is actually a wealth of opportunities to benefit from around us. Taking therapy outdoors enables the client to engage with aspects of themselves in relation to the natural environment around them. The Nature Therapy process can incorporate the environment to heighten the senses in a way that a counselling room cannot. Experiencing the smell of a pine forest, the sound of a stream or coming face to face with wildlife, are experiences that most of us do not usually encounter in day to day life. These can be brought into therapy and the impact explored in a therapeutic, mindful way by the client.

By engaging in Nature Therapy, it allows us to take our problems into a very natural environment, yet one that we may not be too familiar with. When working outdoors there is in fact much more going on around us then we realise at the time. Part of the process is understanding how to integrate with our surroundings yet still benefit from the therapeutic counselling that is taking place.

Conditions such as anxiety, grief and depression can all be addressed through therapy in nature together with many more. By providing a natural space through which to reconnect with nature and at the same time exploring the issues the client brings. Nature can also help us reconnect with our past, as a child we may have fond memories of exploring and playing outdoors in the countryside often as adults we lose this connection. We may not feel we have the time to simply take a walk through a field or woodland, we may have forgotten what the experience was like, or simply feel there isn’t a need to. However, much has been written on the benefits of spending time in nature, and only when we make the effort to explore will we truly know how beneficial the experience can be. This said, Nature Therapy is far more than just a ‘walk in the park’, we take the counselling session and we work outdoors integrating nature with the therapeutic models we are working with. This manifests in different forms such as walk-and-talk therapy along a path chosen either by the client or counsellor, or a pre-defined route to a suitable spot for counselling to take place, where we will sit and engage in the counselling session.

If you would like to try nature therapy, and experience the benefits that therapy in nature can have, simply contact me for more details. I will be happy to chat through what is involved and what to expect. We don’t have to spend all our sessions working in nature, you can try just one or two, because it really is about you the client, and what works best for you. Nature Therapy with Reach for Help is available in and around the London and Manchester areas.