About Claire
Claire Smith is a counsellor who focuses on anxiety and related concerns. She offers calm, practical support for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, low mood, grief or difficult relationships. Her style is straightforward and respectful, and she aims to make a first step feel manageable for anyone who is worried about starting therapy.
Claire has four years of professional experience and holds BACP accreditation, which she uses to guide ethical practice and professional standards.
Background and approach
She has worked within the NHS NELFT children’s crisis unit, where she supported people facing severe mental health concerns and high risk situations. That background informs how she responds to crisis, distress and complex presentations. Her approach is flexible.
She listens first, then works with each person to build a plan that fits their life. She uses a mix of practical tools and talking-based approaches to help people manage anxiety, cope with trauma, and improve relationships. Sessions are collaborative and paced to the person’s needs.
Claire has experience supporting neurodiverse people and has worked with concerns related to OCD, ADHD and autism. She also assists with anger, self-esteem, parenting and career-related stress, among other issues. She aims to tailor conversations so they feel relevant and doable.
People can expect clear, simple next steps from Claire rather than jargon. She encourages small, sustainable changes and focuses on what helps day to day. Taking the first step can be hard, and she acknowledges the courage it takes to begin.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then focus on values-based action that matters day to day. It can be useful for anxiety, stress and coping with life changes.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours and teaches practical ways to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, low mood and problems like compulsive habits.
Claire uses these approaches alongside client-centred listening to shape online work. Finding the right approach is part of the process. She will talk with each person about goals, preferences and what feels useful, then adapt tools and pace so therapy fits into daily life.
Online sessions can be easier to fit around work, family and travel. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be a good shorter check-in, while live chat or text messaging suit brief updates or people who prefer writing. These options make it simpler to keep therapy consistent and flexible around other commitments.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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