Mary Prime , BACP

Mary Prime is a UK-based counsellor rooted in Milton Keynes with eight years of professional experience and membership of the BACP - the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. She trained originally in person-centred counselling, qualifying in 2018, and has since completed a higher level diploma that expanded her skill set to integrate multiple therapeutic modalities. Her background includes work as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner within NHS talking therapies and current roles as a Social Prescriber in Community Mental Health Teams, bringing practical knowledge of health and social care into her therapeutic practice.

Mary works in a client-focused way, aiming to meet people where they are and to explore how different areas of life affect physical, emotional, and mental well-being. She tailors her approach to each person, drawing on client-centred methods alongside cognitive and mindfulness-based techniques and, where wanted, elements of health coaching. She has supported many hundreds of people with concerns such as anxiety, stress, low mood and depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm ideation, relationship difficulties, life transitions, and grief.

A particular area of interest is long-term health and chronic pain - Mary brings 16 years of lived experience with a chronic pain condition and uses that perspective to offer empathy and practical support for adapting daily routines and managing competing commitments. She has also worked extensively with unpaid carers and people navigating neurodiversity, having later-in-life diagnoses of Autism, ADHD and dyslexia herself. Since the COVID-19 pandemic Mary has delivered most work online and has offered evening and weekend appointments to improve accessibility. Mary is not currently accepting new clients.

Therapeutic approaches and online support

Client-centred therapy focuses on creating an empathetic, non-directive space where the person’s own goals and experiences guide the work. It helps with building self-understanding, processing emotions, and strengthening personal resilience during life changes and relationship difficulties.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours and uses practical strategies to address unhelpful patterns. It is commonly used for anxiety, depression, stress and coping with day-to-day challenges.

Mindfulness therapy encourages present-moment awareness and gentle acceptance of experience, offering tools to reduce rumination and manage emotional reactivity. It can be helpful alongside other approaches for mood, stress and long-term health-related adjustment.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Mary works with clients to identify goals, preferences and what feels most useful, blending methods when appropriate so the work is tailored to each person’s needs.

Online therapy offers flexible options such as video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging, allowing people to fit sessions around work, caregiving or mobility needs. These formats make it easier to access licensed professionals and therapists from different locations while maintaining continuity of care and adapting the way therapy is delivered to suit individual circumstances.