Claire Sims, BACP

Claire Sims is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with 20 years of professional experience. She is a BACP counsellor who aims to work alongside people as they face stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties, trauma and loss. Claire keeps the pace set by the person she is supporting and focuses on collaborative work that helps people feel more in control.

Claire began training in counselling in 2000 and started seeing clients in 2005. Over two decades she has worked in many roles including helplines, support work, coordinating services, and launching new ways to offer counselling such as telephone and video options. This practical background gives her experience with a wide range of issues and settings.

Her practice grew from psychodynamic training, and she now describes her work as integrative. That means she draws on psychodynamic ideas alongside other skills and experience to suit each person’s needs rather than following a single fixed method.

Claire has supported people with concerns including addiction, grief, bipolar and depression, parenting strain, intimacy-related issues, eating and sleeping problems, anger, compassion fatigue and career change. She has also worked with issues linked to abandonment, attachment, blended family matters, domestic violence, and end-of-life counselling.

In previous roles she has worked for rape crisis services, hospice bereavement support, IAPT services, dementia counselling initiatives, and local mind organisations. Those roles included counselling, service coordination, helpline supervision and training other counsellors.

Her approach is person-led and trauma informed. She aims to create a calm, respectful space where people can talk through what matters and find practical ways to cope and move forward.

Psychodynamic and Integrative Support Online

Claire's core approach is psychodynamic therapy, which looks at how past experiences and patterns shape current feelings and relationships. This can help when people feel stuck in repeating problems or want to understand why certain reactions keep occurring.

She also works in an integrative way, bringing in techniques and experience from different settings to meet individual needs. That flexible stance means sessions can focus on practical coping skills, exploring underlying patterns, or a mix of both depending on what suits the person.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Claire will help clients and counsellors consider goals, preferences and what has worked before to decide how to proceed. Together they review progress and adjust methods so therapy stays useful and relevant.

Online therapy offers practical benefits such as scheduling flexibility and easier access to care. Video calls allow a face-to-face feel, phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text messaging suit quick check-ins or when writing feels easier. These options make it simpler to fit counselling around work, family and other commitments while still working with registered or accredited professionals.