About
My style is ‘integrative’ which means I draw in many theories using the therapeutic relationship as the foundation for change. My approach is predominantly compassionate, especially as the people I meet have often experienced difficult relationships. Many people I meet are scared or ashamed to come to therapy, worried about judgement or about sharing a behaviour which feels anti social. Some feel they are just ‘surviving’ or ‘coping’ but are doing this alone.
I aim to provide support and motivate, for sustainable and rewarding lifestyles, within a relationally reparative environment.
This approach stems from my special interest in behavioural conditions and what evokes them, noting a strong link to environmental and developmental conditions.
I work from a ‘normalising’ position, uncovering the emotional difficulties behind the behaviour, being passionate about moving away from labels, with a focus on the individual.
My sessions are containing, as well as experiential and dynamic. I always look to long-term change as the goal, considering myself someone who can help a person start to thrive in life from a fresh perspective. My passion is sustained emotional recovery and freedom from any sense of fear, frustration isolation or alienation, and I believe everyone I meet is capable of achieving this.
Position at Priory
Charlotte joined the Priory in 2014. She started on the addiction unit at North London where she worked with a multidisciplinary team to run a specialist group and individual therapy programme. Since then she has worked across the two London wellbeing sites at Harley Street and Fenchurch Street, providing individual therapy sessions.
Charlotte has a wealth of experience in the addiction field but always works from a standpoint of uncovering the emotional difficulties behind the behaviour, being passionate about moving away from labels with a focus on the individual.
Through research and observation, she views addiction as a symptom of far more complex pathologies. This underpins her approach, which is integrative, tailoring the modality of treatment according to the individual.
Training
Charlotte worked in the media and telecommunications industries after obtaining her degree in 2000. Since then she has undertaken training in integrative therapy at the Minster College London and started a placement at Priory North London whilst completing a Master’s degree in addiction psychology and counselling at London South Bank University. She has also attended group therapy training at RAPT in London and can run many types of educational and process groups. In 2018 she trained in the understanding of mentalisation based therapy at the Anna Freud Centre. Ongoing CPD is in her special interest of complex trauma and she is working towards accreditation in this. She is also due to train in DBT.
Academically, she is currently working towards a PhD, which addresses interpersonal issues as key to sustained behavioural change. Here she is aiming to test the efficacy of this approach, and the fundamental psychological mechanisms that lead to change, which is likely to have a significant impact on the field.
Charlotte is also active in communicating innovation in psychotherapeutic practice, to a variety of audiences. Examples are a presentation at ICAAD London on the application of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy with addiction and a presentation for mental health week to insurance companies on addiction first aid. She also writes regularly for Priory’s website, based on her approach to addiction treatment: Sample articles include ‘Overeating as an addiction?’ ‘The importance of group therapy and ‘Attachment and self-soothing’.
- https://www.priorygroup.com/blog/the-inability-to-cope-and-its-link-to-addiction
- https://www.priorygroup.com/addiction-treatment/food-addiction
Charlotte has a passion for sharing awareness of the conditions she treats and has written articles for the press:
- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/oct/25/no-more-mr-muscle-the-activists-raising-body-confidence-for-men
- https://www.you.co.uk/phone-addiction/
- https://www.harleystreetmedicalarea.com/news-features/womeninleadership-charlotte-parkin
Research interests
Previous research - overeating as an addiction?
Current doctoral research - Does interpersonal group therapy enhance outcomes for people with emotional disorders and if so how? Exploring attachment change through group therapy.