CHRISTIAN K HUGHES
About Christian K Hughes
Who I Am and Why I Do This Work?
I’m Christian - a BABCP Accredited psychotherapist and clinical trainer with a long-standing interest in the psychological impact of moral conflict — particularly how individuals navigate distress when their professional responsibilities collide with their personal values.
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My work focuses on moral injury and ethical strain: not only the distress this creates for individuals, but the broader questions it raises about organisational culture, responsibility, and care.
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But I didn’t arrive at this focus through theory alone. It’s grown out of years of listening to people who carry quiet, complex burdens — often in systems that demand silence, endurance, or detachment. My aim is to help make sense of these experiences in ways that are clinically useful, ethically honest, and socially relevant.
My Path So Far
I began my career in the British Army, serving as a uniformed mental health clinician. Service personnel taught me a great deal about trauma, duty, and the moral weight of decisions made under pressure.
After military service, I moved into the NHS, where I’ve worked extensively with people with complex psychological needs — many of whom were wrestling not just with symptoms, but with unresolved moral and existential questions rooted in their working lives.
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Along the way, I trained in a number of therapeutic approaches, including:
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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - with a particular interest in contextual & relational approaches
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)
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EMDR
The focus of my clinical work with clients is not just to reduce distress, but to reconnect with what matters to them — even in the face of difficult, ethically loaded histories.
What I’m Focusing on Now
During my time in the military, it became clear that many of the people I was working with were reacting to the impossible choices and value conflicts created by the systems they worked in. This recognition has led me explore the concept of moral injury and to focus more directly on it's impact in contexts beyond the military:
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What happens when doing your job means betraying your conscience?
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How do systems shape the distress we later call “clinical”?
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And how can we respond — personally and collectively — in ways that honour both psychological reality and moral truth?
These are the questions at the heart of my current work: in therapy, in supervision, in training, and increasingly, through writing and public conversation.
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Working with Me
While much of my energy now goes into exploring these themes publicly, I continue to offer:
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Specialist therapy for professionals affected by ethical strain
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Clinical supervision for practitioners
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Workshops and consultation for organisations ready to take these issues seriously
I offer these services as part of a broader commitment to working thoughtfully in this space.