Barbara Coates , BACP

Barbara Coates is a UK-based psychotherapist with five years of clinical experience and a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) credential. She works in an integrative way, drawing on several therapeutic approaches to meet each person's needs. Barbara aims to create a calm, compassionate space where people can speak honestly about what they are struggling with.

Her style is warm and non-judgemental. She listens closely and helps clients name their difficulties. She also helps people spot their strengths and think about small, practical steps they can try between sessions.

Barbara supports people with many concerns including stress, anxiety, depression and trauma. She also helps with issues such as grief, low self-esteem, addiction, sleep problems, anger and coping with life changes. Additional focuses include attachment issues, body image and caregiver stress among others.

In sessions she adapts tools and techniques to suit each person. She may use ideas from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to look at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions. Attachment-based ideas can help people understand their close relationships and patterns that started in childhood. The person-centred element keeps the work grounded in empathy and respect.

Barbara offers practical strategies, emotional support and problem-solving work. Her aim is to help people reduce symptoms and build routines that support better day-to-day wellbeing. She encourages small, manageable changes that add up over time.

How her approaches work online

Barbara uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help clients spot links between thoughts, feelings and actions and to try small behavioural experiments. This approach can be helpful for anxiety, low mood and managing unhelpful habits.

She also draws on Attachment-Based Therapy to look at close relationships and the patterns that formed in childhood. That work can help people understand their relationship styles and practised responses to stress.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapy. Barbara works collaboratively to agree what to try first, then adjusts methods based on progress and preferences. She involves the client in planning goals and practical steps so the work feels relevant and manageable.

Online therapy offers practical benefits for this style of work. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues matter, while phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text-based messaging suits brief check-ins, ongoing reflections or people who prefer typing to speaking. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caring responsibilities and travel.