Charlotte Cheesley

Reiki Master Practitioner

Trainee Cognitive Hypnotherapist

Clinical Associate Psychologist

Hello and Welcome!

Thank you for visiting… This page is to share a little about me and how I have got to where I am now, and what I am hoping to offer you. A basic summary is I am ‘just me’, Charlotte, in my 30’s and living a lovely life here in Bristol. I have always wanted to be there to help others, and hope to be able to offer a place of grounding and maybe help you find a little magic along your journey for whenever you need it! For me it always feels important to get to know the person you may work with and see if they are the ‘right fit’, let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to meeting you,

Charlotte x

What am I up to now?

I have spent the past 8 years working within the NHS as a Clinical Associate Psychologist, specialising in Eating Disorders and now work at a university in my day to day role, supporting students mental wellbeing.

Outside of this I have been a Reiki Master Practitioner since 2020, attuned and trained in Traditional Usui Reiki and Karuna Reiki.

I am currently undertaking training with Quest Institute in Cognitive Hypnotherapy. Please check my services page for regular updates on when I will be offering hypnotherapy sessions later this year.

In my holistic work I hope to be able to meet you wherever you are in your healing journey, and help you to hold, meet, protect and heal from the roots of you within practices. 

Qualifications

  • Usui Reiki - Level 1 - Awarded in 2020 - Marlborough School of Reiki

    Usui Reiki - Level 2 - Awarded in 2020 - Marlborough School of Reiki

    Usui Reiki - Level 3, Master Practitioner - Awarded in 2021 - Marlborough School of Reiki

    Karuna Reiki - Awarded in 2022 - Marlborough School of Reiki

  • Currently completing training and my diploma with Quest Institute… more exciting things coming soon!

  • BSc Psychology - First Class Honours - Awarded in 2017, BPS Accredited.

    MSc Clinical Associate in Psychology, Adult Lifespan - Distinction - Awarded in 2023, BPS Accredited.

My Route to Reiki

My journey into reiki was a natural fit for the reiki itself; it found and met me in all the places it needed to at that time.

Reiki was introduced to me in 2018 where I started to explore energy healing modalities and spiritual practices in more detail. As someone who has always relied on their inner knowing and felt an awareness of support and guidance around me, finding and putting a name to these practices opened up a whole world of opportunity to explore myself completely for the first time and start to understand and explore the things I couldn’t quite put a name to for so many years.

In 2020 I decided to make the leap to start my reiki journey and attended and was attuned to reiki 1 with the Marlborough School of Reiki. Initially in the light of situations outside of my control at the time, reiki 1 was intended to be a personal practice to support me to ground, find balance and heal the parts of myself that I had opened up with my exploration. I spent the next 6 months working on self-healing. Reiki 1 provides a beautiful energy to start to open you up to the ‘ki’ - universal energy - of Reiki and deconstruct any blocks within you. What I didn’t know was how much would change for me in that time, how important reiki would become in my life and how much I would love it.

After 6 months, I stepped into my Reiki 2 course, continuing my self-healing but starting the process of sharing reiki with others. For the first time I was introduced to symbols and learnt that I could send reiki healing from a distance to those who need it. Amazing!

In 2021 after a year of adjusting to my level 2 attunements and deep self-healing, growth and sharing this with others, I completed my Reiki 3 course to become a ‘Reiki Master’ to now be able to share this beautiful gift with as many people as I meet along the way.

As an addition to my training I later trained and attuned to Karuna Reiki healing which acts as a beautiful compliment to the Usui practices.

Reiki has allowed me to find a greater strength of who I am on a more holistic level, to make choices that support my wellbeing and personal boundaries, to reflect and get in touch with where I am at each moment and to support not only myself but those I work with to step inwards and come home to ourselves.

Professional Background and Psychology

I completed my BSc Undergraduate Psychology Degree in 2017 with Bournemouth University. Following 4 years of studying and a year long placement working in a mental health charity and residential respite house, I graduated with a first class honours degree. During this time I chose to focus on Clinical Psychology with a particular interest Eating, Weight and Behaviour Change modules. To deepen and expand my awareness and knowledge of these areas in both textbook and practice, following graduation I decided I wanted to focus and work in the field of Eating Disorders.

Since 2017 I have continued to obtain ongoing experiences specialising in Eating Disorders, working across both inpatient and community based services.Throughout this time I have had the honour of seeing and working first hand with those who are struggling with their eating disorders alongside other diagnosed mental health and physical health illnesses, offering both 1:1 and group therapy sessions within NHS services.

In 2022 I completed my MSc Clinical Associate in Psychology Degree with the University of Plymouth. Within my studies I continued my specialised interest of working within the eating disorders field, but was able to expand and widen my knowledge to other mental health difficulties and after an 18-month degree apprenticeship, focusing on the adult lifespan, I graduated with a Distinction.

*Please note, I am unable to offer private psychology sessions and Root of You services are strictly limited to Reiki and later this year Cognitive Hypnotherapy. However, all my training and experience will inform our sessions together to help you wherever you are at currently. If you have any questions please get in touch!

Root of You Holistic Therapy

‘Root of You’ was born from an idea back in 2021 - “What if I could offer holistic therapies outside of the NHS but maintain all the skills and knowledge I have within my role there?”

To me it is incredibly important to continue the passion, knowledge, skills and expertise I found and developed within the field of Psychology and maintain the work I continue to love in supporting others mental health and wellbeing. However, in order to model what feels ‘rooted’ and authentic to me, I felt I needed to do this whilst exploring other modalities to help people wherever they may find themselves, in a way that feels the most authentic to them. I have noticed within my clinical work and time within the NHS that the treatments we are able to offer can work so well for individuals, but do not always suit others. To me it made sense to start to offer holistic therapy alongside my day-to-day work to ensure everything I have picked up along the way both professionally and personally can be shared to help others. My goal is to meet you where you are and help you reconnect to the lightness that makes you uniquely you, growing from the roots up and helping you to feel grounded within them.