Therapy doesn’t have to feel clinical to help you understand yourself more deeply
I work with people who feel stuck, know something doesn’t feel right or want to understand themselves and their relationships more deeply — even if they’re not yet sure what needs to change. You might be struggling with anxiety or your emotions, repeatedly encountering the same relationship patterns, questioning what you actually need, or trying to understand why experiences from your past still affect you today.
My approach is integrative, primarily drawing on person-centred and psychodynamic therapy alongside solution-focused approaches. But more than anything, I want therapy to feel human. I’ll bring professional knowledge and experience, but I won’t position myself as the authority on your life. We’ll use what happens in our conversations to understand you better and help you find ways forward that feel like your own.
- 5 years’ relevant professional experience
- Registered Member MBACP
- Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
Could we be a good fit?
You may find my approach useful if:
You know something doesn’t feel right but aren’t sure exactly what the problem is — or even where you would begin talking about it.
You keep encountering similar difficulties in relationships, perhaps around attachment, boundaries or people-pleasing, and want to understand why those patterns repeat.
You struggle to understand or regulate your emotions, or experience anxiety, low confidence or difficulties with self-esteem.
You’re trying to understand who you are, what you need or what matters to you outside other people’s expectations.
You want to explore childhood experiences or trauma and understand why certain experiences still affect you or feel difficult to let go of.
You’re neurodivergent and want space to explore emotions, relationships, identity, masking or your own needs in a way that doesn’t expect you to fit one prescribed way of doing therapy.
You don’t need to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. You may be generally doing okay but want a consistent space to reflect, understand yourself better or explore things more deeply.
What working together can look like
You don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what to talk about.
When we first meet, I’ll be curious about the whole person rather than only the problem that brought you to therapy. I want to understand what is happening for you, how you experience yourself and your relationships, what you already understand and what you’re finding harder to make sense of.
I’ll also want to understand what you need from me.
My aim isn’t to become an authority on your life or somebody you rely on to provide the answers. It’s to help you become clearer about your own needs, understand what may be getting in the way and feel increasingly able to make choices for yourself.
A conversation, not an interrogation
My style is laid-back, conversational and collaborative.
I’m not a therapist who will sit silently and occasionally nod. I’ll ask questions, offer observations and gently challenge something when I think it might be useful.
I ask “why?” quite a lot. That doesn’t mean I expect you to know the answer. Sometimes simply spending time with the question can take us somewhere you haven’t considered before.
How much I lead will depend on you. If you need more guidance at first, I can provide it. As you become more comfortable, you may find yourself naturally taking more of the lead. Other people arrive already knowing exactly what they want to explore, and I can follow them.
There is room for humour, too. Therapy doesn’t have to feel serious every second for serious work to be happening.
Finding ways to express what’s difficult to say
Sometimes ordinary conversation doesn’t quite capture an experience.
I use metaphors, quotes, poems and other forms of expression when they help us get closer to something that is difficult to put into words.
You can bring things that mean something to you into therapy as well. A song, for example, might communicate something about your experience more accurately than an explanation ever could.
There isn’t one correct way to participate in therapy, and I don’t expect every client to communicate or explore things in the same way.
Understanding what keeps happening
When a difficulty keeps returning, I want to understand the pattern before we rush to fix it.
What keeps happening? When does it happen? What tends to come before it? What do you feel or fear when you try to respond differently?
If you already understand a pattern intellectually but still can’t seem to change it, we can become curious about the gap between knowing and doing.
I may gently point out something I notice recurring, particularly when what you say you want seems to conflict with what you find yourself doing. But change still belongs to you.
Sometimes the next step is deliberately small. If you have an overwhelming list of things you think you “should” be doing, for example, we might explore what would actually feel realistic rather than replacing your list with one of mine.
How my Approach Shapes the Work
My approach is integrative, which means I draw from different therapeutic perspectives rather than expecting every client to fit a single model.
Person-centred therapy
This sits at the heart of my work.
I see you as the expert on your own life. My role is to listen, understand and help you explore rather than tell you what you should do. The relationship between us matters, and I want you to feel respected and able to move at a pace that works for you.
Psychodynamic therapy
This helps us explore how previous experiences and relationships may still be influencing what happens today.
If a feeling, behaviour or relationship pattern keeps returning, we can become curious about where it came from, what keeps it going and why doing something different can feel so difficult even when you understand the pattern.
Solution-focused approaches
Sometimes you need something more practical.
We can look at what is already working, what feels manageable and what small change might help. The important thing is that the solution fits you rather than being imposed on you.
The balance between these approaches can change as therapy develops. Some weeks may involve deeper exploration; others may need more focus or practical thinking.
Areas of experience
Relationship difficulties, attachment, recurring relationship patterns, boundaries and people-pleasing.
Anxiety, emotional regulation, self-esteem, confidence, identity and self-understanding.
Exploring childhood experiences, trauma and how earlier experiences may continue to influence emotions, relationships and behaviour in adulthood.
Therapeutic support for neurodivergent clients, including exploring emotions, relationships, identity, masking and understanding individual needs.
About Cleo
For Cleo, therapy is professional — but it doesn’t need to feel overly clinical.
At its heart, she sees therapy as two people sitting down and having a real conversation within the safety and boundaries of a professional therapeutic relationship.
That perspective has also been shaped by a varied working life outside therapy. Before and alongside developing her therapeutic career, Cleo has worked in roles including family work, teaching, bookselling and as a barista, meeting people from very different backgrounds and at different stages of their lives.
What has remained important across those settings is the individual person in front of her.
Cleo’s therapeutic training gives her theories and frameworks through which to understand what might be happening, but she doesn’t want the framework to become more important than the person.
Her aim is to understand you first, then use what she knows in a way that fits you — rather than trying to make you fit a particular version of therapy.
Qualifications & Professional Credentials
CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
CPCAB / North Hertfordshire College (2023)
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
Evergreen Certifications (2025)
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Registered Member MBACP
Membership number: 405446
Selected additional training
View selected additional training
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Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People
SPC Online Training Academy Limited -
Solution Focused Therapy
Relate
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Psychological First Aid
Johns Hopkins University -
Safeguarding Adults
Skills for Health
What happens when you get in touch?
Start with a conversation
Your free 20-minute discovery call is an opportunity to tell us what has brought you to therapy, what you are looking for and ask any questions you may have.
Find the right fit
We’ll consider your needs, preferences and what you would like from therapy, then recommend the practitioner we believe is best placed to support you.
Agree the next step
If you feel comfortable with the recommendation, our team will talk you through availability, fees and how to arrange your first session.
Fees
Cleo’s session length and current fees were not included in the questionnaire response and should be confirmed before publication.
We’ll confirm current availability and answer any practical questions during your discovery call.
You don’t need to know where to start
We can simply sit down and have a conversation.
You can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with, ask questions and get a sense of whether working together feels right. You can always say no or tell Cleo when there is somewhere you don’t want the conversation to go.
Confidential – No pressure – Clear next steps