Paula Smyton, BACP

Paula Smyton is a UK counsellor with BACP accreditation and about 10 years of experience in counselling, education and mental health settings. She works with adults who are managing persistent stress, anxiety, low mood, relationship and family difficulties, grief, trauma, eating and sleeping concerns, and anger. Her background also includes helping people cope with life changes, career strain, bipolar mood challenges and LGBT-related issues.

Paula often meets people who have been managing on their own for a long time. Many present as coping outwardly while feeling worn down inside. She commonly supports those who feel overwhelmed by several problems at once or exhausted from carrying long-term responsibilities and worries.

In sessions she uses psychodynamic ideas to look at how past experiences and relationship patterns shape current behaviour. She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and person-centred and solution-focused methods to guide practical work when it helps.

Practical conversation and reflective exploration appear side by side in her approach. That might mean noticing repeated patterns from earlier relationships, learning ways to respond to stress, or trying specific exercises to manage intense feelings. The style is measured and direct, aimed at helping people make clearer choices about their next steps.

Paula offers work that pays attention to emotional patterns and everyday problems. She accepts international clients and conducts sessions in English. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule an initial session via the online options.

How therapeutic approaches work in online sessions