About Michael
Michael Harland offers a calm, exploratory style of counselling for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, low mood, anxiety or relationship strain. He speaks plainly and listens closely, helping clients name difficult feelings and see where those feelings come from. Michael is a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy member, BACP, and has five years' experience in practice.
He focuses on depth-oriented work that prioritises feeling as a route to change.
How Michael works
That means conversations often move beyond thought patterns to underlying emotions. Sessions are paced to the person's needs, and Michael will not push emotional work if it is unsafe or unsuitable at a given time. When immediate stabilisation is needed, he recommends approaches that strengthen coping first rather than plunging straight into deep emotional material.
He aims to balance careful listening with practical steps clients can use between sessions. Practical concerns he supports include sleep and eating disturbances, addictive behaviours, career stress, and compassion fatigue. Michael also pays attention to attachment, abandonment issues, adoption and foster care histories, and neurodiversity such as autism and Asperger syndrome.
He works with intimacy-related issues and alternative sexual cultures including BDSM and kink in an open, non-judgemental way. His practice includes work around grief, chronic health challenges, and body image. Sessions are delivered in English and he accepts international clients.
People can expect a measured, reflective process that blends mindfulness techniques with psychodynamic ideas about emotion and history. Michael helps clients explore what matters most to them and plan small steps forward.
Michael lists 2 ways of working on the entry:
What Michael works with
The areas below are the ones Michael selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trichotillomania
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 5 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How Michael blends depth work with online therapy
Michael uses mindfulness therapy to help people become more aware of their thoughts, bodily sensations and emotions in the moment. Mindfulness exercises can reduce reactivity and make it easier to notice patterns that contribute to stress or low mood. Psychodynamic therapy is about tracing how past relationships and early experiences shape current feelings and behaviour, which can help when problems seem rooted in long-standing patterns.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Michael explores a client's history, current needs and goals, then suggests a blend of techniques. He works collaboratively so the chosen way of working fits personal preferences and what feels manageable at each stage.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video is useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat or messaging suits brief check-ins, written reflection, or people who find typing easier than talking. These options make it simpler to fit therapy around work, caregiving or travel, and to continue progress when in-person sessions are not practical.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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