Dr Leanne Harper

Name: The Women's Therapy Practice
Address: 124 City Road, London

Clinical Psychologist & WTP Associate

Female Therapist specialising in women's issues, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, work life balance

I specialise in providing therapy to high achieving professional women.

In spite of being successful in your career do you struggle with feelings of anxiety, low self esteem and imposter syndrome ? Are you finding it hard to get the right balance in your life ? Are you struggling to know how to get the most out of your relationships and wish that you had a more supportive inner voice to help you when times are hard ?

I am able to support you to build a better relationship both with yourself and with the people that matter to you, and to help you find strategies that enable you to feel like more of yourself rather than less.

I have worked in crisis mental health support, community mental health, and forensic settings, and have published research into mindfulness and PTSD with military veterans. Because of these experiences, I often work with women who have stressful jobs (such as police officers, health professionals, social workers, and those working in high-risk, high-stress settings). I think of this as ‘people who do hard work that matters’.

I can help with:
- Understanding our relationships with ourselves and others
(and noticing when we are replaying the same pattern)
- Working with self-belief, experiences of anxiety, imposter syndrome
and people-pleasing
- Learning to put boundaries in place with
people and jobs we love
- Managing difficult experiences

I offer early morning and daytime appointments on Thursdays and Fridays and see clients both weekly and fortnightly to suit you. I also offer one-off, single session interventions, as well as more traditional longer-term therapy, if you are curious about one specific aspect of your life.

Please do get in touch if you are considering therapy and would like to
think about how we can work together.

Read my Blog Article: 'How individual therapy can help with relationships '

Contact Me

About Me

Introduction

After spending most of my adult life working in the NHS, I pursued my own personal dream of travelling and living aboard for 12 months, in 2022-23. This experience has allowed me to embrace the privilege, challenge, personal growth, loss, and joy that comes with travel and relocation; and make space for this in my practice. Understanding the nuances of what “living the dream” can look like, behind the scenes, and making space for both the joy and difficulties in situations (such as travel, families, and big career wins) is something that is

important to my practice, and way of being. I often take a ‘both, and’ rather than an ‘either or’ approach to life.

I am an active person, with a love for nature and being outside. As an eldest daughter in a large family, I understand the complexities of family dynamics, and the dance that we can often get caught in whilst we balance looking after ourselves, and others. I therefore practice in a person-centered way, which means that you are in the driving seat of how to make changes that are realistic, and sustainable, for you.

My experience

I have worked in mental health services for over 10 years and have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. In addition to clinical experience, I regularly contribute to academic research and have several publications in academic journals; particularly within mindfulness and mental health awareness.

Within the NHS, I specialised in adult mental health, and worked within crisis mental health care, and physical health settings, with both individuals and their families. I have always worked with a feminist lens, and my experience within a female prison and services specialised for women has strengthen my understanding of the additional societal pressures placed upon us.

I believe that mental health and wellbeing rarely occurs in silo, and my experience working within family and systemic practice ensure that I look at the ‘whole picture’ of somebody’s life. I believe that we are a collection of our experiences, the sense we make of these, and the people around us.

I am trained in focused Acceptance and Commitment therapy, which offers brief practical interventions. I find that this approach, coupled with a relational framework, such as Cognitive Analytic Therapy, offers a powerful mixture of depth, compassionate understanding, and applied techniques to support you towards the life you want to live.

I am registered with the UK health regulator body, alongside the Australian health system,

although currently only offer UK therapy.

Qualifications

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology: University of Liverpool

BSc Psychology (first class): Bath Spa University

Professional Registrations

Health Care Professions Council: Practitioner Psychologist

British Psychological Society: Chartered Clinical Psychologist

Association of Clinical Psychology UK.

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency: Psychologist

Insurance Company Provision

Western Provident Association - WPA