About Valerie
Valerie Harmer is a BACP counsellor who helps people manage anxiety, stress and relationship problems. She offers straightforward support for issues such as low self-esteem, grief, obsessive thinking, sleep problems and life transitions. Valerie focuses on practical change so people can get back to daily life feeling more in control.
She uses a pragmatic, solution-focused style that emphasises short-term steps and clearer choices. Sessions are collaborative and question-led so clients can spot patterns that keep them stuck and then try small, realistic changes.
Background and approach
Valerie also draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mindfulness techniques to support thinking and coping skills. Over nine years she studied counselling and CBT psychotherapy to postgraduate level at the University of South Wales. She also completed a diploma in solution-focused hypnotherapy at the Clifton Practice in Bristol and training in bereavement counselling with Cruse.
Valerie is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). In practice she offers both brief and longer work depending on a person’s goals. Sessions can explore what maintains a problem, test different coping strategies, and build practical ways to reduce distress.
The work aims to be direct, respectful and focused on what the individual wants to change. Valerie works with a wide range of emotional and relationship concerns including trauma, eating and parenting-related stress, career worries, and ADHD-related difficulties. She provides video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging for people in the United Kingdom.
How Valerie’s approaches work online
Valerie uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Solution-Focused Therapy in ways that adapt well to online work. CBT helps people spot and change unhelpful thinking and behaviour patterns; it often involves simple exercises and experiments between sessions to test new ways of coping. Solution-Focused Therapy concentrates on what is already working and on small, achievable steps to move forward, making it useful when you want focused, goal-led sessions.Finding the right approach is part of the process and is decided together. She will talk through your goals and preferences, try different techniques, and adjust the plan as you learn what helps most. This collaborative approach lets you shape the work to match your needs rather than following a fixed programme.
Online sessions offer practical flexibility. Video calls let you use visual cues and a conversational rhythm similar to face-to-face work. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or when you prefer not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging suit shorter check-ins, quick reflections or when you want to write through thoughts between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and keep continuity across appointments.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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