Claire — Trainee Counsellor

At a Glance

• Counselling Approach: Integrative — Person-Centred, CBT, Psychodynamic, Hypnotherapy
• Session Format: Online (video or telephone) — available to clients across the UK
• Client Group: Adults (18+)
• Languages:  English; British Sign Language (BSL) Levels 1 & 2
• Training Status:  Trainee Counsellor — Level 5 Diploma in Integrative Counselling (in progress)

About Claire

Claire is a trainee integrative counsellor offering online counselling to adults across the UK through Hope Therapy & Counselling Services. She works within an integrative framework that brings together Person-Centred, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic, and Hypnotherapy approaches, allowing her to tailor sessions to the unique needs of each individual client.

Claire’s path to counselling has been shaped by a wealth of human experience. She has spent a decade as a full-time carer for a family member with complex mental health needs, as well as raising children with additional needs — roles that have deepened her empathy, resilience, and her genuine commitment to understanding others without judgement. She has also worked professionally with children and young people affected by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), supporting their emotional wellbeing and re-engagement with everyday life.

Most recently, Claire has been volunteering as a Reproductive Peer Support Worker within NHS services, providing one-to-one emotional support to women affected by baby loss and traumatic birth experiences. This work has given her a particular sensitivity to grief, loss, and the profound emotional impact of reproductive trauma — areas she is able to hold with great care in the counselling room.

Claire believes that every person deserves to feel genuinely heard and understood. She brings a calm, patient, and non-judgemental presence to her work, creating the conditions for clients to explore their thoughts and feelings at a pace that feels right for them. Whether you are navigating grief and loss, managing anxiety, processing trauma, or simply seeking space to make sense of what you are going through, Claire offers a thoughtful and supportive approach.

Therapeutic Approach

Claire works integratively, drawing on a range of established therapeutic models to ensure that the work is responsive to each client’s individual circumstances, preferences, and goals. Her integrative training encompasses:

• Person-Centred Approach (PCA) — placing the client’s own experience, values, and capacity for growth at the heart of the therapeutic relationship.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) — exploring the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to support practical, lasting change.
• Psychodynamic Therapy — examining how past experiences and unconscious processes shape present patterns of thinking, relating, and feeling.
• Hypnotherapy — using guided relaxation and focused attention to support deeper self-awareness and positive change.

Rather than applying a single fixed method, Claire draws on whichever combination of approaches best serves each individual client at each stage of their journey. She is committed to reflective practice, ethical working, and ongoing professional development.

Areas of Experience & Specialist Interest

Through her training, caring roles, and peer support work, Claire has developed particular experience and sensitivity in the following areas:

• Grief and bereavement
• Baby loss, pregnancy loss, and reproductive trauma
• Birth trauma and perinatal emotional wellbeing
• Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• Anxiety and stress
• Low mood and depression
• Relationship and family difficulties
• Caring responsibilities and carer wellbeing
• Low self-esteem and self-worth
• Life transitions and personal development
• Neurodiversity and additional needs (lived experience)

Accessibility

Qualifications & Professional Training

Core Counselling Qualification

• Level 5 Diploma in Integrative Counselling — UK Therapy Guild (2025–2027, in progress)
• Level 2 in Counselling Skills — Learn Direct (2024–2025)

Additional Qualifications

• British Sign Language (BSL) Level 1 & Level 2 — Sign Right BSL (2018–2020)
• BTEC National Diploma in Health Studies (Merit, Merit, Pass) — Lancaster and Morecambe College (2021–2023)

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

• When Fathers Wound — Deep Release Training Counselling (2024–2025)
• Introduction to In the Womb and Birth Trauma — Deep Release Training Counselling (2024–2025)
• Working Creatively with Nesting Dolls — Deep Release Training Counselling (2024–2025)

Relevant Experience

Areas Served — Online Counselling UK-Wide

As an online counsellor, Claire is available to clients throughout England and the wider UK. The searchable locations below reflect areas where individuals may be seeking online counselling support.

Source Traceability Log

Sources reviewed during profile compilation:

• CV — cv-placement (1).docx — uploaded by Ian
• Supporting letter — supporting_letter_place.docx — uploaded by Ian
• Verbal confirmation from Ian: online only; no rates to be published; adults 18+ only; no specific exclusions

Key editorial decisions:

• ‘Safe space’ removed from personal statement — banned phrase per framework.
• EFT Level 1 excluded — not confirmed as a Hope service offering.
• Under-18 client group excluded — standard default applied; not overridden.
• Rates omitted — explicitly confirmed by Ian.
• CPD items included (birth trauma, nesting dolls, fathers wound) — relevant to specialist experience areas confirmed present in profile.
• BSL credentials highlighted as accessibility feature — substantiated by two verified qualification entries.
• Modalities (Hypnotherapy, PCA, CBT, Psychodynamic) included — confirmed by Ian as constituent elements of the integrative diploma course.