Joanna Ridgeway, ACA

Joanna Ridgeway is an ACA counsellor who helps people untangle overwhelming thoughts and daily habits. She offers a calm, non-judgemental space for someone feeling stressed, anxious or low to talk about what is happening now. Joanna writes plainly and meets people where they are to help make small changes that add up.

With 14 years of experience, she works with common concerns such as stress, anxiety, relationship issues, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem and depression. She focuses on how thoughts and everyday habits shape mood and connection, and she helps people notice patterns that keep them stuck.

Her approach blends client-centred listening with practical strategies drawn from cognitive behavioural ideas and attachment-focused work. Sessions often look like calm conversation, identifying unhelpful thinking, and trying a new small behaviour between meetings. Joanna also draws on emotionally-focused and Gottman-informed ways of understanding relationship patterns when that is useful.

She supports people dealing with additional challenges such as abandonment, caregiving strain, chronic illness, body image and communication problems. Joanna aims to make the work manageable so it fits into everyday life and feels relevant to each person’s situation.

Joanna encourages a steady, collaborative pace. She helps set clear, achievable steps and reviews progress together. People who want straightforward, thoughtful support for changing thoughts and habits may find her approach helpful.

How Joanna's approaches work in online therapy

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns of connection and how early relationships shape current responses. It helps people notice how they relate to others and learn different ways of reaching out or setting boundaries. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions and offers simple experiments to test unhelpful beliefs and try new behaviours. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) pays attention to core emotions and helps people name and respond to feelings so relationships and self-understanding can shift.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Joanna will talk with the person about what they want to change and try methods that suit their needs and preferences. She treats this as a collaboration and will adjust the approach as progress is made.

Confirm the current session options before booking as specific formats are not listed here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow a shorter check-in when time is limited, and reduce travel time. It also means someone can take therapy from a quieter space or a place that suits their routine. Joanna uses her clinical approaches to help people apply changes to everyday life, whether sessions are held online or in another format.