Shushanik Gasparyan, BACP

Approaches that shape online counselling

Shushanik uses client-centred work to place the person’s concerns at the centre of each session. This approach focuses on listening, reflecting and helping people identify their goals and values, which is useful for issues such as low self-esteem, anxiety and coping with life changes.

Narrative therapy is also part of her practice and helps people look at the stories they tell about themselves. By exploring those stories, people can notice unhelpful patterns and begin to experiment with different ways of understanding their difficulties, including relationship or identity concerns.

Psychodynamic ideas inform how she pays attention to past patterns and how they affect current feelings and behaviour. This can help when trauma, repeated relationship patterns or long-standing emotional difficulties are part of the picture.

Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. She will work together with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, preferences and day-to-day needs. That discussion can change over time as progress is made.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let people speak face to face when that is helpful. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or a quieter option is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to fit short check-ins into a busy day or to reflect in writing between sessions. Registered and accredited professionals can use these formats to make therapy more accessible and easier to schedule around daily life.