Author - Joanne Harrison
Clinical Hypnotherapist | Therapist | Writer

I see humans, not conditions.

After 18 years working in clinical mental health — including extensive experience within the NHS — that's the thing I keep coming back to. Not diagnoses, not presenting problems, not case notes. People. The full, complicated, surprising reality of them.

Nothing shocks me anymore. And because of that, I don't judge. Not the shame people carry in quietly, not the trauma they've never said out loud, not the parts of themselves they're most afraid to show. What I've learned to do — and what I believe is my greatest strength as a therapist — is create a space in between us. A space where we can both navigate honestly, where the truth can exist without fear, where we become a team.

Fully transparent. Working with what's real. Together.

Why I Write

We move through life carrying structures we didn't choose and can't always see. The beliefs, emotions, and behaviours that helped us survive difficult times quietly shape everything — our thoughts, our relationships, our sense of what's possible. Most of the time, we don't know they're there.

As we grow, some of those structures become outdated. What once protected us starts to block us. A pattern repeats. A feeling arrives without explanation. We get stuck, and we don't know why.

This is where myth and metaphor come in.

When you step into a story — even briefly — you step outside your own structure. You gain a completely different perspective on it. It's like shining a light into a room you've been navigating in the dark. The therapeutic value isn't intellectual. It's imaginative. And imagination, it turns out, is one of the most powerful paths to healing we have.

I write original myths, metaphors, and therapeutic scripts — material I use with my own clients and make available to fellow practitioners through Self & Shadow Therapy. Every piece comes from clinical experience and real human encounters, not theory.

My Background

I'm a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Solution Focused Hypnotherapist with 18 years of NHS clinical experience. I'm registered with the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH, member #8440).

My work sits at the intersection of solution-focused hypnotherapy and depth psychology. I've spent years working seriously with Jungian ideas — individuation, shadow work, dream work — not as academic study but as a living practice, in my own life and in the room with clients.

That combination of clinical grounding and imaginative work is what Self & Shadow Therapy is built on.

For Practitioners

If you've found your way here through my writing, welcome. My practitioner bundles — original myths, metaphors, and clinical scripts — are built for therapists who work with the whole person. Trauma-informed, gender-neutral, and grounded in real clinical thinking.

You can explore the bundles [here].

Read My Writing

I write about shadow work, dreams, myth, grief, and the inner life — on this site and on Substack.

Read my articles here Anxiety, Grief & Emotional Wellbeing Articles | Self & Shadow Therapy | Self and Shadow Therapy