My name is Harley Miller, and I spend my year between Australia, the UK and the US.

I have worked helping people for nearly 20 years now. Since I was a child, I was always fascinated by people – the way they think, the way they react to situations, the relationships they form, the ways they communicate, the way they solve problems. This interest in people initially led me to work with people struggling with addictions, especially alcohol and Class A drugs.

“We are all people immersed in relationships of one kind or another.”

I started as Youth Worker in Spain and, finding that I wanted to understand more, I went on to study Psychology. However, I was always convinced that we are not isolated creatures in a closed bubble (though sometimes it may feel that way). We are all people immersed in relationships of one kind or another. Therefore, the problems we may have can be influenced by the people around us, be that in a helpful way or in an unhelpful way. This belief led me to study for my Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy, which includes family and couples’ therapy.

As a natural progression from Family and Couples therapy, I went on to study Psychosexual Therapy from a systemic and cognitive-behavioural approach, because intimacy and sex form an important part of couples’ relationships. However, that does not mean I only work with couples. The good thing about Systemic Therapy is that it allows for individual therapy too, but taking into consideration the relationships and other people in a person’s life. Since starting out, I have worked in Spain, Italy, the UK and Australia as a psychotherapist. These experiences have helped me understand how cultural and/or social differences (not to mention language) can also influence people and their ways of dealing with problems or difficulties, and life itself. But it has also helped me understand what we all share as humans - the need to be listened to, understood and acknowledged. While living in the UK, I worked predominantly for the NHS within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Adult Substance Misuse and Social Services. My work within the NHS and Social Services has given me a broad range of experience, skills and knowledge of families, young people, their parents or carers, as well as couples and people living on their own.

Whilst I am strongly influenced by my systemic training, I am also trained in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and Solution Focused Therapy, which allow me to adapt to my clients’ personal way of communicating and thinking and use the skills and interventions best suited to them and the circumstances they’re in.