Kim O'Brien, BACP, NCPS

Kim O'Brien is a counsellor practising in the United Kingdom with three years of professional experience. She offers a warm, non-judgemental space for people who are feeling overwhelmed and need someone to talk things through. She helps with stress and anxiety and supports people coping with drug and alcohol addiction. Kim also works with trauma and abuse, and with the grieving process after loss. She addresses intimacy-related concerns and relationship difficulties, and helps with issues around eating and self-esteem. Her approach treats each person as the expert on their own life. Kim draws on client-centred work to listen closely and make therapy feel personal. She also uses cognitive behavioural techniques to spot unhelpful thoughts and try small, practical changes. For deeper patterns, Kim uses psychodynamic ideas to look at family of origin issues, attachment and abandonment concerns. She offers trauma-focused work when past events continue to cause distress and affect day-to-day coping. Sessions are designed to be straightforward. Kim aims to help people build skills for anger, communication and coping with life changes. She also supports those dealing with control issues, codependency, commitment worries, divorce and domestic violence concerns. People can expect a calm, practical style that balances listening with clear suggestions. Kim encourages small steps, and works with each person to set goals that feel manageable and relevant.

How Kim's approaches translate to online therapy

Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening, empathy and helping people find their own solutions. Online this means sessions that follow the person's pace and priorities, with the counsellor reflecting and clarifying to help make sense of difficult feelings.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions and uses practical exercises to change unhelpful patterns. In remote sessions CBT can include homework, thought records and short behavioural experiments that fit into daily life.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Kim will discuss goals and preferences, try methods that suit the person's needs, and adjust the plan as progress is made. This is a collaborative process and the choice of techniques evolves with the conversation.

Online sessions offer flexibility and accessibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging are helpful for shorter check-ins, brief coaching, or when writing feels easier than speaking. These options make it simpler to fit therapy around work, childcare or travel and let people choose the format that works best for them.