Counsellor profile
Victoria Mawdsley, BACP
Counsellor - stress and anxiety support
See online counselling options- Person centred
- Mindfulness
- Psychoeducation
About Victoria
Counsellor Victoria Mawdsley is a BACP member with three years of clinical practice. She works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression and coping with life changes. Sessions are conducted in English in the United Kingdom.
Victoria uses a person-centred approach that keeps the client's priorities at the centre of each session. She also draws on cognitive-behavioural ideas, mindfulness and psychoeducation when these fit a person's needs. Her manner in session is relaxed and practical, with straight talk about what is causing strain and what might help next.
Before counselling she worked for over 20 years in health and social care as a healthcare assistant, mainly in dementia care. That background shapes how she listens to long-term stress, illness and carer strain. It also informs how she discusses coping with chronic health problems and disability.
She has run a private practice, VJM Counselling, for nearly two years. In that practice she supports people dealing with workplace pressures, panic attacks, social anxiety and the effects of domestic violence. Victoria is open about stigma around mental health and aims to make conversations straightforward and clear.
Sessions focus on what the person brings each week. Practical tools, short exercises and discussion of unhelpful thinking patterns are added when useful. People who need help with bereavement, post-traumatic stress or long-term caregiving concerns may find this a direct and down-to-earth way to work through difficult issues.
Client-centred and practical approaches for online counselling
Victoria works from a client-centred base. That means sessions focus on the person's concerns and priorities. The counsellor listens, reflects and follows what the client brings, helping them clarify what matters most and decide next steps.She also draws on brief cognitive-behavioural ideas and mindfulness. Cognitive-behavioural techniques look at unhelpful thinking patterns and suggest small experiments to test different ways of thinking. Mindfulness practices are short exercises to help reduce stress and bring attention back to the present moment. These methods can help with anxiety, panic, low mood and coping with life changes.
Choosing an approach is part of the work and will be done together. The counsellor discusses goals, preferences and what has worked or not worked before. That lets both people decide whether to use person-centred listening, some CBT-type tasks, mindfulness exercises or a mix.
Session formats are not listed in the biography, so confirm current options before booking. Online counselling can make it easier to fit sessions around work and caring commitments, reduce travel time and allow shorter check-ins when life is busy. It also gives access to a counsellor who has experience supporting people with long-term health issues and caregiver stress, while keeping the focus on practical ways to manage problems.
Areas of expertise
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
3+ years
Listed in
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she commonly help with?
She helps people with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression and coping with life changes, plus related issues such as workplace problems, panic attacks and social anxiety.
What is her therapeutic style?
Her base approach is client-centred, with a relaxed, practical style. She also uses cognitive-behavioural ideas, mindfulness and psychoeducation when they suit the person's needs.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has three years of clinical counselling experience and nearly two years running her private practice, VJM Counselling.
Which professional body is she a member of?
She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP.
Can sessions be conducted in other languages?
Sessions are offered in English.
Will she work with international clients?
She is not currently accepting international clients.
How are sessions paid for and what do they cost?
Cost varies with location. Sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time; specifics should be checked before booking.
How do I begin working with her?
Use the See online counselling options button, complete the short matching questionnaire and schedule a first session to get started.
Details come from information the counsellor supplied to BetterHelp. A membership or registration can be checked on the professional body's own register.
Online counselling is not emergency care. In an emergency call 999, or see the help numbers.