Vicky — Trainee Counsellor

Key information

CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling — Integrative 2 years, in progress, Years 07/01/2026-01/12/2027
CPCAB Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies (2025)
CPCAB Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills (2025)
BA (Hons) History of Art, University of Warwick (1993)
Student Member of the BACP (Membership number: 01051073)
Fitness to practice certificate held

Opening line

Vicky came to counselling from a working life spent close to families under pressure — and brings a close understanding of caring, disability, neurodiversity and the routes to parenthood that do not run straight.

About Vicky

Vicky is a trainee integrative counsellor working towards the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. Her training takes an integrative approach, which means she draws on several ways of working rather than one fixed method, adapting to what is most useful for the person in front of her. Her course is taught through a mix of in-person and online teaching, and she practises across both.

Her working life before counselling took her through some very different places. She started out in London media agencies in the 1990s, running teams of planners and buyers and negotiating advertising space for national brands. She then moved into education — first as a teaching assistant in a London primary school, supporting small groups of children learning English alongside their schoolwork, and later into a fourteen-year role at Frank Wise Special Needs School in Oxfordshire. There she worked alongside teachers addressing the individual needs of children with complex needs, sourcing the specialist resources that facilitated curriculum delivery.

Since 2019 she has worked for herself as a gardener, looking after three Oxfordshire gardens that open to the public each year for the National Garden Scheme, raising money for nursing and healthcare charities.

Vicky has a close understanding of fertility treatment, of adoption, neurodiversity and of caring for a child with complex special needs — territory where a great deal tends to be carried quietly. The piece of news held in a waiting room and not yet told to anyone. The family shape that does not match the assumptions other people bring to it. The version of an ordinary week that takes twice as much to get through and looks, from outside, like nothing much at all. That understanding is not incidental to her counselling work. It is a large part of why she is doing it.

Vicky’s Philosophy

“What I want is for someone to feel properly heard — not tidied up, not reassured out of what they are feeling, but met. It makes a great deal of difference when somebody sits with you in the hard part rather than hurrying you past it.” Yes, happy with this

Vicky is drawn to work where the difficulty sits inside family life: the things people manage quietly while carrying on. She holds the view that a person is more than the situation they are dealing with, and that being listened to carefully, without judgement, is where most useful work begins.

What Vicky Can Help With

Fertility, adoption and family building

Infertility and the experience of fertility treatment
Pregnancy loss and miscarriage
Adoption — the process itself and life afterwards
Decisions and uncertainty around building a family
The strain that fertility and adoption can place on a relationship

Caring, disability and family life

Carer support, including parents caring for a child with additional needs
Family issues and changing family dynamics
Children’s learning difficulties and additional needs
Disabilities, neurodiversity and long-term conditions within a family
The isolation that can come with a caring role

Anxiety, low mood and life change

Anxiety
Low mood and depression
Low self-confidence and low self-esteem
Stress
Bereavement and loss
Significant life change, and questions of identity after a role ends

Vicky has a particular understanding of families navigating disability, additional needs, and the routes to parenthood that do not run straight.

Therapeutic Approach

Vicky works in an integrative way. Rather than applying one model to everyone, she draws on the range of approaches covered in her training including person centred, CBT and psychodynamic and adapts to what is likely to be most helpful for each person. Her training places the client at the centre of the work, with the flexibility to meet individual needs.

Working with a Trainee Counsellor

As a trainee counsellor, Vicky works under regular clinical supervision provided by Hope Therapy & Counselling Services. This means her work is closely supported and guided by experienced professionals. All trainee counsellors at Hope Therapy follow the same standards of ethical practice, confidentiality and safeguarding as our qualified team members.

Vicky’s years of working alongside families in a special needs setting, and the close understanding she brings to questions of caring, fertility and adoption, mean she offers a depth of understanding that sits beyond her stage of formal training.

Format Options

Online sessions via secure videoconferencing (Zoom). Online counselling can be helpful for people with busy schedules, caring responsibilities, mobility concerns, or who simply prefer the privacy of connecting from their own space. Vicky offers sessions from wherever you are in England.

Book your free 15-minute consultation: https://calendly.com/hopetherapy/15-minute-consultation