Barbara Engels, BACP

Barbara Engels offers attachment-based and psychodynamic counselling with practical focus. She uses those approaches to help people understand relationship patterns, cope with life changes and manage stress. Barbara is a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) member and speaks English and German. She aims to make sessions straightforward and compassionate so people feel able to take the next step.

Barbara draws on 18 years of professional experience in relationship and family work. Much of her past role involved supporting people facing grief, intimacy-related concerns and workplace stress. She also provided counselling through an autism-specialist charity and a relationship service, so she is familiar with autism-related issues and communication difficulties.

In sessions she focuses on how early attachments shape current relationships. That can help with patterns of shame, low self-esteem and repeated conflicts. Her psychodynamic perspective looks at unconscious feelings and long-standing habits that keep people stuck, with the aim of making them easier to change.

She offers practical support for parenting worries, separation and career decisions alongside work on anxiety, trauma and coping with loss. Conversations are tailored to the person’s goals, whether that is clearer communication, better boundaries or renewed self-confidence.

Barbara accepts people who live outside the UK and runs sessions in English or German. She describes therapy as a collaborative process and encourages people to take small, manageable steps between sessions.

How attachment and psychodynamic work translate online

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early bonds shape current relationships. Online sessions can use this approach to look at familiar patterns, closeness and trust, and to practice new ways of relating in everyday situations.

Psychodynamic Therapy pays attention to feelings and repeated habits that sit below awareness. In an online setting it helps people name those patterns, understand how they affect decisions, and try different responses between sessions.

Choosing the right approach is part of the process. Barbara will work with the person to decide which focus fits best based on needs, goals and preferences. That collaborative decision can be revisited as therapy progresses.

Online formats offer practical benefits. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be shorter check-ins and need less bandwidth. Live chat and text messaging suit people who prefer typed reflection or want flexibility outside usual hours. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, childcare and travel, while keeping the therapeutic focus on relationship patterns, coping and long-term change.