About Me
Welcome to my website. I'm Dr Harriet Challoner, Counselling Psychologist.
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Being a Counselling Psychologist means that I have completed doctoral level training in applied psychological therapies. Counselling Psychologists undertake extensive training in a range of therapeutic approaches over several years, in addition to undertaking doctoral level research, before qualifying. Counselling Psychologists must also undertake their own personal therapy throughout training, so I have experience of sitting in both chairs...
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I am a registered Counselling Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (registration number PYL36181).
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Having lived in various parts of the UK during my life, including London, Sussex and Glasgow, I have settled in fabulous Bristol, and I run my psychology practice from a purpose-built therapy room in my garden.
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Alongside my private practice, I continue to work in the NHS, currently in a secondary care Psychological Therapies Service.
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My Approach & Therapies Offered
Above all I believe that the therapeutic relationship between therapist and client is the most important and effective factor in succesful therapy. Plenty of research also backs this up. I therefore pride myself on creating a safe, compassionate, collaborative, authentic and reliable space for you.
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When you decide to work with me, we will create a collaborative understanding of your difficulties, and a tailored plan of how we are going to work on them together, which can be in short, medium or longer-term therapy.
My approach to psychological therapy is integrative, which means I am trained in and often blend a range of therapeutic approaches, so therapy is tailored to you. I decide which therapies to draw upon depending on the issues you bring to therapy, your preferences and personality, my own expertise, and the evidence-base. I only integrate and draw upon evidence-based therapies. The therapies and approaches I may integrate include:
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
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Humanistic, Existential and Person-Centred Therapies
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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Trauma-focused therapies, including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
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DBT informed-therapy (I am DBT trained but cannot offer full DBT due to not working within a team at this time)
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Individual Mentalization-Based Therapy
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I usually like to contract for between 8-16 sessions with clients, as I feel it is good for everyone to have a timeframe to work towards. If we both feel it's needed we can extend beyond this of course, but I find working to an approximate time frame helps both myself and the client to focus, and means you can budget for therapy more effectively.
Therapy Setting
Update August 2024:
Please note: I am currently only available for online therapy, whilst I move home and build my new therapy office.
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If you are happy with online sessions, please get in touch to discuss availability.
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Services & Fees
I offer an initial free-of-charge phone call of up to 30 minutes, to have an initial chat about therapy and to see if we feel I am the right therapist for you. From this you can then book in for an initial session with me.
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I offer individual psychological therapy for adults (those aged 18 years and older). My fee for individual therapy is usually £90 per session; however I can sometimes work to a sliding scale depending on my caseload, so please talk to me if affordability is an issue. Sessions last 50-60 minutes.
I am registered with Bupa to work with insured/funded clients. You can find my profile on the Bupa Finder website at https://finder.bupa.co.uk/go/dr_harriet_challoner.
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I also offer couple's or relationship therapy, to partners or any two people wanting to improve their relationship. My fee for relationship therapy is £130. Sessions are longer for this therapy and usually last up to 90 minutes.
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I also offer individual clinical supervision to qualified and trainee psychologists, therapists and counsellors, for which I charge £90 for a one-hour session.
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"I always felt we had a great connection and always felt at total ease. This in turn enabled me to be able to speak freely, with no fear that what I was saying was right, or wrong, rather that I knew it would all form part of her analysis of the situation."
Anonymous client feedback