About Vanessa
Vanessa Higgins is a counsellor with over 10 years of professional experience. She focuses on helping people who feel overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, depression and grief. Her practical aim is to help people feel more able to manage difficult emotions and everyday pressures.
Vanessa offers a straightforward, person-centred style. She listens carefully and helps people name what’s causing distress. Sessions move at a pace the client finds comfortable and focus on practical steps as well as understanding patterns that keep problems going.
Background and approach
Her background draws on a mix of well-known methods, including cognitive approaches and person-centred work. That mix is used to match the way she works to each person’s needs, rather than using a single fixed method. Vanessa often supports people dealing with trauma, relationship pain, caregiving strain, chronic illness and life transitions.
She also helps with issues such as low self-esteem, guilt, loneliness and finding a clearer sense of purpose. Most sessions are held on Mondays and some Fridays, with occasional additional slots during the week. Appointments are offered by video call, phone, live chat or messaging to suit different routines and preferences.
How therapeutic approaches translate online
Vanessa commonly draws on cognitive methods that look at the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. These techniques help people notice unhelpful thinking patterns and try small, practical changes to reduce anxiety or low mood.She also uses person-centred principles which focus on listening and reflecting what matters to the person. This approach helps clients feel heard and understood while they work through grief, trauma or life transitions.
Choosing the right approach is a joint process. The therapist will discuss options and try methods that fit the client's goals, needs and preferences. If something isn’t helping, the plan can change and different techniques can be tried together.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text messaging to suit busy lives. Video works well for in-depth conversations, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat lets you check in quickly, and messaging supports ongoing short reflections between sessions. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit around work, childcare and other commitments.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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