Nicola Willoughby

Nicola Willoughby is a counsellor registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She has worked in counselling since 2020 and focuses on practical support for people facing big life changes. Nicola aims to create a calm space where people can talk through what matters most to them.

She helps people deal with trauma and abuse, grief, parenting stresses, career doubts and coping with major life transitions. Nicola also works with issues such as attachment, communication problems, domestic violence, and separation and divorce. She supports people facing fertility concerns, pregnancy and childbirth matters, eating and food-related issues, and common anxiety problems like panic and social phobia.

Nikola trained as an integrative counsellor, so she adapts her way of working to suit each person rather than using a single method for everyone. Her training includes a higher diploma in cognitive behavioural therapy and a foundation certificate in working with children and teenagers. She has also taken further courses in bereavement, domestic abuse, anxiety, anger and emotional regulation.

She has experience supporting children and adults who have an ADHD or autism spectrum diagnosis, helping them notice strengths and build on those qualities. Nicola believes people often carry the answers they need and that therapy is a collaborative process to uncover those answers.

People who choose to work with her can expect straightforward conversation, practical ideas to try between sessions and a steady focus on personal strengths and change.

Therapeutic approaches and online support

Nicola describes her practice as integrative, which means she blends different evidence-based techniques to match a person's needs. Integrative work often combines conversational work with goal-focused strategies to help people make clear, step-by-step changes for everyday problems like anxiety or conflicts.

Her training includes cognitive behavioural therapy, commonly called CBT, which focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and trying practical techniques to change feelings and behaviours. CBT can be useful for panic, phobias, low mood and managing anxious thinking. She also brings experience from bereavement and domestic abuse training to help people process loss and safety-related concerns in a paced way.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Nicola will help you choose methods that fit your goals, preferences and what you want to change. She frames this as a collaborative process and checks in regularly to adjust the plan as you progress.

If you are considering online therapy, please confirm the session formats available before booking as the profile does not list them. Many people find remote sessions help fit counselling into busy lives, reduce travel time and make it easier to take a session during a lunch break or between commitments. Online work can also make shorter check-ins or audio-only conversations practical when that better suits someone's needs.