Cecilia Hazlerigg

Please feel free to make contact to explore our respective availability and arrange a consultation.

My journey as a therapist has been a deeply enriching one, spanning nearly two decades. I began by exploring traditional psychoanalytic approaches to the unconscious, seeking to understand human behaviour and motivation. Over time, attachment theory became a home base for me, deepening my appreciation of the interpersonal dynamics that shape us throughout our lives. The impact of our earliest relationships remains central to my understanding of mental health and overall well-being.

I have also closely followed advancements in neurobiology, particularly the interplay between brain structures and psychological processes. This has provided a valuable lens through which to explore the mind-body connection, allowing me to work effectively with trauma, stress, and anxiety—helping individuals find healing through deeper awareness and integration.

Today, I offer my clients and supervisees the tools I have found most transformative, drawing from a range of approaches that honour the complexities of human experience. My focus is always on what truly serves those who seek my support.

Over the years, people I have worked with have described experiencing profound and lasting shifts, gaining a deeper understanding of themselves and their patterns. When psychotherapy is effective, it facilitates meaningful change—catalysing growth, fostering healing, and offering a path beyond the narratives that may have kept them stuck for generations.

If my approach resonates with you, I invite you to reach out.

I have a small, well-established private practice and charge a fee for all appointments.

I work within a structured framework, typically offering a regular weekly appointment. To begin, I usually offer two or three standalone ad hoc sessions as an extended assessment. This allows us both to explore whether working together feels meaningful and beneficial. If we decide to proceed, I generally recommend an initial commitment of 4-6 weekly appointments, after which we would review our work and consider whether to continue on a longer-term or open-ended basis.

I welcome the opportunity to think with you about what you hope for from therapy and how we might approach this together.

Choosing the right therapist is an important and personal decision. While professional directories and websites offer limited insight, research—and my own experience—suggests that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is often the most significant factor in successful outcomes. With this in mind, I usually encourage prospective clients to meet with several practitioners before deciding. An initial meeting is the best way to get a sense of whether my approach feels like the right fit for you.

I would be delighted to meet with you and explore your current circumstances to see whether I am well-placed to offer the support you are seeking.

Our initial consultation is an opportunity to think together about what has brought you here, what you are hoping for from therapy, and whether my approach feels like the right fit for you. If, for any reason, I am not best placed to help at this time, I would be happy to assist with onward referrals to trusted colleagues or reputable organisations.

If you would like to share any relevant information ahead of our meeting, you are welcome to do so. However, please bear in mind that my time for reviewing materials in advance will be limited.

I came to study psychology and psychotherapy at postgraduate level from an academic background firmly rooted in the humanities.  Throughout my working life there has been a consistent and keen interest in seeking to make sense of human experience, our motivations and our struggles.  My background and training enable me to draw upon insights from philosophy, psychology, and mindfulness.  In bringing these together, I approach the challenges any of us may experience as difficulties of life and living, rather than pathologised problems. 

My own continuing evolution as a therapist has been a wonder-full journey spanning nearly 20 years.  I initially studied traditional psychoanalytic approaches to the unconscious as a way of enquiring into human behaviour and motivation.  Attachment theory quickly became somewhere I could call home, adding to my appreciation of interpersonal dynamics which play out over the course of our lifetime.  The role of our earliest relationships continues to be central to my understanding of our mental health and overall wellbeing.  I have paid close attention to the advances in the field of neurobiology, and the interplay between our brain structures and psychological processes.  This has proved to be a particularly valuable lens through which to look more specifically at the body-mind connection and has enabled me to work effectively with traumatised individuals and the somatic manifestations of stress and anxiety co-creating profound shifts, catalysing measurable growth and promoting healing.

Today I embrace and offer to my supervisees the tools I have found to be most useful and efficacious.  I find that this affords us a truly inclusive way of working with the complexities of human experience, which I cannot hope to speak to in 2000 characters.  Whether working with a client, a trainee or a supervisee, I see myself as an agent of possibility and am interested only in that which serves those who approach me for support.

To date my clinical work has taken place within NHS teams, residential treatment settings, secondary schools, the prison service, and community counselling services.  I presently enjoy offering a portfolio of services to individuals and organisations: I offer counselling and psychotherapy to individuals and couples, supervision to individuals and teams, and organisational training and consultancy.

At the heart of my approach to both therapy and supervision, I am concerned with how we relate – to ourselves, and to others.  In this spirit, I work dynamically and with a strong collaborative focus.  

Whilst my initial trainings were psychoanalytic and psychodynamic, my approach to supervision has developed over time and might now be described more accurately as flexible and integrative; informed by theory drawn from various psychotherapeutic disciplines.  

My practice has been enriched by supervision specific training, as well as my experience of receiving supervision from practitioners whose models differed from my own and of supervising trainees and qualified practitioners with a variety of theoretical orientations.

A rich and diverse professional training background, combined with my own lived experience, enables me to work with supervisees confidently and with empathy, and warmth.  Supervisees have described me as easy to talk to, friendly and attentive.