Claire Phillips, BACP

Claire Phillips is a counsellor with ten years' professional experience and registration with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She offers a calm, non-judgemental space where people can talk about hard things and start to make sense of them.

Claire follows a person-centred way of working that puts the client's experience at the heart of the session. She listens closely and helps people name feelings, notice patterns, and try small changes that can make day-to-day life easier.

Her background includes work in NHS surgeries, prisons, and drop-in centres, and she has considerable experience supporting people affected by trauma, self-harm, and substance use. She has also worked with children in care home settings and with young adults, often where suicidal thoughts or drug and alcohol issues were present.

Having lived and worked in South East Asia for over ten years and in South East London for more than twenty years, Claire brings cultural awareness to her work. She pays attention to how culture and life experience shape the issues people bring to sessions.

She uses approaches such as attachment-focused work, cognitive behavioural techniques, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing to help people address anxiety, depression, addictions, self-esteem and relationship concerns. Sessions are practical and conversational and aim to build on the individual's strengths.

Claire works with people across the United Kingdom and with international clients in English. She aims to help clients find clearer ways of coping with change, loss, relationship strain, and the lasting effects of trauma.

Approaches that suit online therapy

Claire uses attachment-based work to look at how early relationships shape present feelings and reactions; this helps people who struggle with trust, abandonment or close relationships to notice patterns and try different ways of relating. She also draws on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviours that reduce anxiety, low mood or unhelpful coping such as substance use. Mindfulness techniques are used to teach simple grounding and breathing exercises that help with stress, sleep and emotional regulation.

Finding the right combination of approaches is a collaborative process. Claire will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and adapt sessions over time. Together they will try things, review what helps, and choose approaches that fit the person's needs and life circumstances.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual connection matters. Phone sessions suit people who need less bandwidth or a quieter option. Live chat and text-based messaging can be useful for shorter check-ins, ongoing reflection between sessions, or when writing feels easier than speaking. These options make it possible to fit therapy around work, travel or busy family schedules while keeping the focus on progress and practical strategies.