Nicola Willoughby , BACP

Nicola Willoughby is a counsellor registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) in the United Kingdom. She began practising in 2020 and has three years of experience supporting people through difficult life moments. Trained as an integrative counsellor, Nicola blends techniques from different therapeutic models so that each person receives an approach tailored to their needs rather than a one-size-fits-all method.

Her training includes a higher diploma in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and a foundation certificate in working with children and teenagers, along with further studies in bereavement and loss, domestic abuse, anxiety, anger, and emotional regulation. Over the years she has worked with many children with ADHD or autism spectrum conditions, and with adults who have received new diagnoses, helping them recognise their strengths and unique qualities.

Nicola believes that people often hold the answers to their own challenges but can need a compassionate, skilled partner to uncover them. She aims to help clients identify their strengths and make changes that support recovery and growth. Her work commonly focuses on trauma and abuse, grief, parenting, career issues, and coping with life changes, with additional attention to attachment, communication, relationship endings, eating and fertility concerns, panic and phobias, and women’s issues.

Integrative and CBT approaches for online support

Nicola draws on integrative counselling, combining elements from multiple therapies to tailor sessions to each person’s needs. This flexible approach allows her to adapt techniques to suit issues such as attachment difficulties, communication problems, relationship endings, and broader life changes.

She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based method that explores the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. CBT can help with anxiety, panic, phobias, low mood, and patterns of thinking that maintain distress by teaching practical strategies to manage symptoms and change unhelpful habits.

When working with grief and loss, Nicola employs focused bereavement-informed techniques to help people process their experience, find ways to remember and adjust, and rebuild a sense of meaning over time. These approaches are presented in straightforward language and tailored to the client’s situation.

Deciding on the right approach is a collaborative process. Nicola will work with each person to identify goals, consider preferences, and choose methods that feel like the best fit, revising the plan as progress is made.

Online therapy offers practical benefits for Nicola’s practice by enabling sessions over video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options increase flexibility for scheduling, make it easier to maintain continuity during life transitions, and allow people to access therapists from familiar environments.