Cathleen Brentnall, BACP

Cathleen Brentnall offers straightforward, compassionate support for people facing relationship strain, anxiety, low self-esteem, grief, and parenting challenges. She writes simply and listens closely to help people untangle stressful situations and find practical next steps. Her approach suits those who want clear conversations and steady guidance rather than jargon. With ten years of experience, she combines well-known therapeutic methods to suit each person's needs. She draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and act on them. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to notice and change unhelpful thought patterns. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing can be offered for people working through traumatic memories. Sessions are tailored to how a person learns and makes decisions. Cathleen aims to identify strengths, habits and small changes that add up. She is comfortable including clients' faith when requested, and will adapt language and pace to match each person. Her work also covers issues such as bipolar depression, eating and sleeping difficulties, chronic illness and caregiver stress, abandonment and body image concerns. She helps people with career stress, compassion fatigue and the everyday impacts of life changes. Cathleen practises in the United Kingdom and offers sessions in English. She accepts international clients and uses a variety of remote formats to suit different schedules. The focus is on practical steps, clearer thinking and steady emotional support to help people move forward.

How Cathleen uses evidence-based approaches online

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people identify what matters to them and take small steps towards those values while accepting difficult feelings. It is useful for anxiety, stress and life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing them with practical experiments to change mood and behaviour; it is often used for anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used to work on distressing memories by combining guided recall with specific patterns of sensation and attention, which some people find helpful after trauma.

Choosing the right approach is part of the process and happens together. The therapist will talk through what feels most relevant, try techniques, and adjust the plan based on how well things are working. This makes therapy a shared project rather than a one-size-fits-all prescription.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video is suited to longer discussions and face-to-face style work, phone calls fit when internet conditions are variable, chat or messaging can be useful for brief check-ins or for people who prefer not to use a camera. These options help fit therapy around work, caregiving and travel and let people keep momentum between appointments.