Paula Otley , BACP, NCPS

Paula Otley offers a calm, down-to-earth approach for people facing stress, anxiety, grief and relationship problems. She meets each person as they are and helps them work through what matters now. Paula aims to build a trusting connection so clients feel understood and can speak honestly about hard things.

Paula draws on 16 years of experience supporting people through loss and life changes. That early volunteer work in bereavement shaped her decision to train as an integrative counsellor using person-centred and psychodynamic ideas. Those ways of working mean she pays attention to relationships, past experiences and how they affect daily life.

She added cognitive behavioural therapy in 2020 to offer practical tools for managing thoughts, moods and behaviours. Paula combines this with gentler, reflective methods to help clients make sense of patterns and try different approaches between sessions. The result is a tailored blend of short-term strategies and deeper exploration.

Paula has worked across GP practice, the NHS, charities, community counselling services, private practice and employee assistance programmes. She is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - BACP - and with the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society - NCPS.

Sessions are available in English and she accepts international clients. Paula emphasises collaboration: whatever happens in the work, it is done together with the client to find what helps most.

How Paula's approaches work online

Paula uses attachment-based ideas that focus on how past and current relationships shape feelings and reactions; this can help with relationship worries, abandonment themes and attachment issues. She combines that with client-centred work which means she follows the client's lead, listens closely and creates space for people to say what matters to them. Cognitive behavioural therapy is also part of her toolkit and offers clear techniques to manage unhelpful thoughts, improve sleep, reduce anxiety and change difficult routines.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work and Paula treats it as a collaboration. She will discuss goals and preferences, try methods together and adjust the mix based on what helps most. Clients can expect a joint process with practical steps and reflective conversation tailored to their needs.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video allows more face-to-face connection, phone sessions need less bandwidth and can fit a short break, chat is useful for brief check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between meetings. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving or busy days while keeping the focus on progress.