Karen Harrison

MBACP (Accred) & EMDR Europe Accredited Practitioner

Karen is a fully qualified accredited and insured practitioner, working within the framework of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and is also an Accredited EMDR Europe Practitioner. Karen has continued her professional development throughout her career and attends regular training and supervision in line with the BACP guidelines.

Karen aims to help people live a happier and healthier life, so that they can achieve their own goals and enjoy their personal experience of life more so. She works hard to establish a relationship where her clients feel respected, trusted and understood.

Growing up within a challenging environment herself, Karen feels that she aims to offer a warm safe space where you will feel valued and respected. She understands how difficult people can find life at times, and the complex situation people can sometimes find themselves in through no fault of their own. Suffering with her own mental health historically, Karen has learnt that we can ease our negative thoughts and feelings and learn to understand what we feel and care for ourselves through various models of therapy dependent on the client choice. She offers an empathic understanding with a genuine and real attitude. Karen is passionate about helping others who have suffered with their mental health and has dedicated her whole career to easing people’s pain and suffering. Karen works hard helping clients’ understanding of themselves and their experience without judgement, whilst helping people ultimately to learn to feel free to live their own lives. Karen aims to especially respect the pace and direction at which the client chooses and views herself as a passenger sharing the clients’ journey to wherever they choose.

“I don’t believe in just grabbing the steering wheel if a client feels stuck at a junction. I see myself as sitting in the passenger seat, and part of my role is to get the client to their destination safely. I can give the client options if they feel stuck and the client then usually chooses which way we go and where we explore next. Sometimes it can feel easier if we aren’t struggling alone” KH.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Karen opened The Therapy Quarters to offer a safe space for clients and other practitioners to use with the aim of providing a secure confidential and professional centre to enable clients to attend face to face therapy if they preferred as well as offering remote therapy. Karen is now working together with multiple qualified experienced therapists based at the Therapy Quarters.
Prior to opening The Therapy Quarters, Karen has managed a private practice offering counselling, EMDR Therapy, and Clinical Supervision to clients and practitioners internationally. Karen’s work over more than 25 years has been within charitable, public and private sectors alongside working with trainee practitioners from Universities throughout Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Karen has experience working with Police and Emergency Blue Light services, Specialist Domestic Abuse services, NHS and care staff, as well as lecturing for a number of years and providing training to external agencies and organizations.
Karen’s experience has and continues to produce effective results with clients within the following areas of therapy: Trauma, PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Phobia’s, Low Self-Confidence/Esteem, Relationships, Bereavement, Physical/Sexual Abuse, OCD, Domestic Violence, Couples Therapy, Nutrition and Weight Management, Supervision and Work-related Issues. More recently offering a weight management program where clients can choose to have a ‘hypnotic gastric band’ fitted to assist weight loss.

You can find out some more about Karen in our blog “interview with…” series by clicking here.