Michele Junges-Stainthorpe, BACP

Michele Junges-Stainthorpe helps adults who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief or relationship strain. She meets people where they are and focuses on practical steps to make life more manageable. Michele works in English and French and draws on 21 years of experience to guide conversations that feel clear and useful.

Michele tailors sessions to each person’s needs rather than using one set method for everyone. She blends talking therapies with goal-focused techniques to help clients spot unhelpful patterns and try new ways of coping. Sessions can include gentle exploration of past experiences when that helps make sense of current difficulties.

Her practice covers a wide range of concerns such as trauma and abuse, ADHD, parenting pressures, sleeping problems, self-esteem, anger and intimacy-related issues. She also supports people dealing with bereavement, career decisions, bipolar mood challenges and the fallout of separation or domestic violence. Michele pays attention to attachment, adoption and foster care matters, and the stresses of caregiving.

Before counselling she worked as a teacher and as a school counsellor at an international school, and has also worked with voluntary organisations and in private practice. Her academic background includes a BA in Counselling from Glasgow Caledonian University and a Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (BTEC Level 5).

Michele is a BACP member, which reflects her professional registration with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. She uses that experience to offer steady, person-focused support as clients work toward clearer goals.

How Michele’s approaches work online

Michele draws on client-centred therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy to guide online work. Client-centred therapy focuses on the person’s own concerns and values, with the counsellor listening closely and following the person’s pace to help them feel understood. Cognitive behavioural therapy looks at unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and teaches practical skills to reduce anxiety, improve sleep and manage mood.

She may also use elements of dialectical behaviour therapy for emotion regulation and distress tolerance when strong emotions are part of the difficulty. DBT techniques are practical skills that help people manage intense feelings and improve relationships without getting overwhelmed. Michele will discuss which approaches might fit best and adapt them to the client’s goals and preferences in a collaborative way.

Online sessions give flexibility for different needs. Video calls offer face-to-face conversation when visual cues help, phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text messaging suit shorter check-ins or people who prefer writing. These options make it easier to maintain regular contact, fit therapy around work or caregiving, and try different formats to find what works best.