About Paula
Paula Otley is a counsellor with 16 years of experience supporting people through grief, anxiety and life changes. She meets clients as they are and focuses on building a steady working relationship. Paula aims to make sessions straightforward and practical for worried people seeking help.
Paula began offering bereavement support as a volunteer, sitting with people during some of the hardest days of their lives. That experience shaped her decision to train as an integrative counsellor, with a person-centred and psychodynamic focus.
Background and approach
She added training in cognitive behavioural therapy in 2020 to broaden the ways she can help. Her work spans many settings, including GP practice, the NHS, charities, community counselling services, independent practice and employee assistance programmes. That variety means she is used to different kinds of practical problems and service needs.
Paula draws on a mix of talking approaches to match what a client needs at the time. People come to Paula with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, trauma and abuse, and grief among other concerns. She also supports those facing addiction, sleep or eating problems, career issues and the challenges of ageing or chronic illness.
Sessions focus on what the client wants to change. Paula works collaboratively, combining reflective listening with practical steps from cognitive behavioural therapy when helpful. The emphasis is on steady progress rather than quick fixes.
Paula is accredited with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and holds NCPS accreditation. She practises from the United Kingdom and runs sessions in English, including with people based internationally.
How Paula uses talk-based approaches online
Paula combines client-centred work with cognitive behavioural methods to help people make changes. Client-centred therapy focuses on listening and understanding the person's experience, helping them feel heard and able to reflect on choices. Cognitive behavioural therapy looks at patterns of thinking and behaviour and offers practical techniques to manage anxiety, sleep or mood problems.She also brings relational and psychodynamic ideas into sessions, which explore how past relationships influence current feelings and reactions. Together these approaches help with grief, relationship difficulties, attachment concerns and life changes. Deciding which approach to use is a shared process and she will work with each person to choose methods that match their goals and comfort level.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to give flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation; phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be easier when movement is needed; live chat and messaging suit shorter check-ins or people who prefer writing. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, family and travel schedules and to keep continuity when circumstances change.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- 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 and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 16 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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