Valerie Stanley-Brooks , BACP

Valerie Stanley-Brooks is a counsellor and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She has 25 years of experience and offers practical, compassionate support for people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, grief and low self-esteem.

Valerie uses an integrative, client-centred approach that adapts to each person’s needs. She combines talking techniques with structured tools to address unhelpful thinking, past emotional patterns and immediate coping skills. Sessions are focused and down to earth, with clear steps you can try between meetings.

Her background spans educational, therapeutic and voluntary settings across the United Kingdom. That variety has shaped a flexible way of working with issues such as addiction, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting stresses and career-related strain. She also supports people affected by abandonment, adoption and foster care, and by family of origin problems.

Valerie draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to spot and change thinking and behaviour patterns, and on Trauma-Focused Therapy when past events continue to cause distress. She also uses psychodynamic ideas to look at repeating life patterns and solution-focused techniques to set achievable goals.

Sessions can take place online by video, phone, live chat or text-based messaging, and international clients are accepted. Practical resources and short exercises are often provided between sessions to help people build skills and track progress.

How Valerie blends therapeutic approaches for online work

Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening and understanding the person’s experience. The therapist prioritises the client’s perspective and offers empathy and acceptance so people can feel heard and start to make changes at their own pace.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings and behaviours interact. It uses practical exercises and experiments to reduce anxiety, manage low mood and address unhelpful habits in daily life.

Finding the right approach is part of therapy. Valerie will work collaboratively to choose techniques that match your goals and preferences, and adjust the plan as your needs change. The process aims to be flexible and goal-focused rather than fixed.

Online sessions are available by video, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to suit different needs. Video calls let you see non-verbal cues, phone sessions use less data and can fit into a short break, live chat works well for quick check-ins and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit counselling into a busy life and to continue work when attending in person is difficult.