Simon Barkley, BACP

Simon Barkley is a counsellor who helps people facing stress, anxiety, addictions, low self-esteem and major life changes. He works with clients on relationship and family issues, trauma and grief, sleep problems, career worries and compassion fatigue. Simon holds BACP accreditation and draws on eight years of experience in the United Kingdom.

He prefers a straightforward approach that treats the person as the expert in their own story. Sessions focus on identifying strengths, spotting blind spots, and building practical skills people can use day to day. Simon aims to combine empathy with clear steps towards the goals a person brings to therapy.

Simon regularly uses client-centred ways of working alongside cognitive behavioural tools and existential thinking. He also draws on approaches such as the Gottman Method and motivational interviewing depending on what a person needs. This mix is used to address habits, thoughts and the patterns that keep problems repeating.

In practice he often helps people with addiction, anger, bereavement and motivation, and with processing trauma and relationship strain. He offers coaching-style work when clients want focused, goal-oriented change alongside deeper therapeutic exploration.

Sessions are designed to be practical and human. Simon aims to walk alongside people, offering support without judgement while helping them build new habits and ways of thinking that fit their everyday life.

How Simon’s approaches translate to online therapy

Client-Centred Therapy places the person’s experience at the heart of conversation. It involves active listening, reflecting what matters to the client, and helping people find their own solutions to problems like low self-esteem or grief. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and habits and then practising practical exercises to change them; it is often useful for anxiety, depression and sleep issues. Motivational Interviewing is a short, goal-oriented approach that helps people resolve mixed feelings and build motivation to change behaviours such as substance use.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss options and try different ways of working based on the client’s needs, goals and preferences. This is done together so the plan fits the person rather than forcing a single method on everyone.

The original profile does not list specific session formats, so please confirm which options are available before booking. Online sessions can help fit therapy into a busy life by reducing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins at a convenient moment, or making it easier to schedule around work and family routines. Some approaches lend themselves to practical worksheets and between-session tasks that work well in remote sessions, while conversational, reflective work can also be effective over distance. Registered or accredited professionals can guide choices about how to structure sessions so they suit everyday life.