Background, skills and experience
Dr Neil Harris qualified as a doctor in 1984, moving into the field of mental health and child psychiatry. He has practiced as a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist for 18 years. He has been a qualified psychotherapist for 16 years.
As a doctor he knew that the quality of his relationship with patients and clients was key to being helpful to them. Right from the start of his training as a psychiatrist he took opportunities to learn therapeutic skills from other, more experienced, professionals working under supervision, with individuals, with couples and with families.
Gestalt Psychotherapy training
Neil's first formal training in psychotherapeutic approaches was in Family Therapy, in 1988. While gaining first hand experience of working on his own self-development in a group setting, he became interested in the Gestalt approach, finding the creativity, liveliness and immediacy of Gestalt something of a revelation after the comparatively dry and academic medical training that he had been through. At the same time, he moved into further training in child and adolescent psychiatry, finding that the same qualities often applied to therapy and work with children and their families or carers.
In 1992, he started formal training as a Gestalt psychotherapist More about Gestalt Therapy achieving qualification as psychotherapist, and registration with the Gestalt Psychotherapy & Training Institute and United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) in 1998, by which time he was working partly as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, and partly as a psychotherapist, a working balance that he has continued to the present.
Neil has co-edited a book called:
Relational Child, Relational Brain: Development and Therapy in Childhood and Adolescence This book brings together contemporary theory and practice, backed by research which offers a fuller understanding of relational psychotherapy.
Other therapeutic approaches
Neil continues to train in, and develop skills in other approaches, and has trained in cognitive-behaviour therapy, solution-focussed therapy and developing family therapy skills. He has worked over many years with a family therapy team within a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
Most recently he has completed his Advanced training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. This supports him to help people who have been traumatized, or may be suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) whether through a single experience such as an accident, or who are living with the consequences of childhood trauma or abuse.
My primary training is in Gestalt therapy and I work in a family therapy team. I work with individuals, couples and families in both the short and long-term, with therapy ranging from just a few appointments to helping people make changes over months and years.
I use cognitive-behavioural techniques (CBT) when they can be helpful. My psychiatric training is also part of providing a skilled, competent, and safe environment for the therapeutic work.
