Gail Gill, BACP

Approaches that guide online counselling

Client-Centred Therapy places the person and their experience at the centre of the work. The counsellor listens without judgement, reflects what they hear and helps the person build self-understanding and confidence to make choices. This approach is helpful for general stress, low self-esteem and life changes.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions. It uses straightforward exercises and practical tasks to change unhelpful thinking and behaviours. CBT is often used for anxiety, panic, obsessive patterns and low mood.

Psychodynamic Therapy explores how past experiences and early relationships influence present feelings and reactions. Talking through patterns can make them clearer and easier to change, which can help with relationship difficulties, abandonment issues and long-standing emotional pain.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The counsellor will talk through goals, preferences and what has or hasn’t helped before. Together they decide which methods to try and review progress as work continues.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from another place, phone sessions work when bandwidth is low, live chat suits shorter check-ins and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit counselling around work, family or mobility needs and to maintain continuity of care.