Johanna Lakin | Accredited Professional Counsellor | Carlisle | NCPS

Johanna Lakin

Member Status: Accredited Professional

Member No: NCS20-02403

Location: Carlisle

A strong relationship is, I believe, what makes therapy, therapeutic. In other words, therapy is about building a trusting and communicative, working relationship. Part of my role is to offer the conditions; empathy, acceptance and genuineness which are at the root of cultivating therapeutic alliance.

By offering these conditions, I will meet you as a whole person and remain open and curious to what you feel you want to bring to the session. I do not perceive myself as the expert of your life, you are. I will encounter you in the sessions, holding my understanding that you are of inherent worth and value.

I work with the belief that your distress does not mean that something is ‘wrong’ with you. Rather I accept that some aspects of your life may feel wrong and psychotherapy feels required to facilitate the changes needed, as exploring this alone may feel overwhelming.

Using your experiences, emotions and thoughts as guides, we can work in a collaborative and creative way, to understand what aspects of your life feel out of balance and incongruent. In order to navigate to a place which feels more aligned to who you are now. We can work towards an understanding of what it actually ‘feels’ like to live with meaning and genuineness.
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I am passionate about continuing our understanding of a non-pathologising approach to distress as well as the evolution of the person-centred approach. My current research article is:
Johanna Lakin & David Murphy (2023) A pilot qualitative study of a person-centered approach to eating distress in women, Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, DOI: 10.1080/14779757.2023.2273474

  • Qualifications & Experience
    MA Person-Centred Experiential Counselling & Psychotherapy - University of Nottingham

    BSc (Hons) Psychology

    Emotion Focused Therapy
  • What I can help with
    • Abuse – Emotional, Physical, Sexual
    • Addiction (e.g. Alcohol, Computer games, Drugs, Food, Gambling, Sex, Smoking)
    • Anxiety
    • Assertiveness / Self-confidence / Self-esteem
    • Autism Spectrum
    • Chronic fatigue syndrome / M.E.
    • Depression
    • Divorce & Separation
    • Eating disorders
    • Generally unhappy with your life
    • Illness and dying
    • Mindfulness
    • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
    • Panic attacks
    • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder / PTSD
    • Relationships
    • Self-defeating behaviours
    • Self-esteem
    • Self-harm
    • Sexuality Identity
    • Shyness / Social Phobia
    • Spirituality
    • Stress
    • Suicidal feelings
    • Trauma
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