Nicola Willoughby

Nicola Willoughby is a counsellor who supports people through trauma and abuse, grief, parenting challenges, career questions and major life changes. She works with women on issues commonly experienced across the life course and offers a calm, person-centred style. Nicola is a BACP member and began practising in 2020.

Nicola adapts her approach to each person rather than using one fixed method. She trained as an integrative counsellor and can draw on different ways of working to meet individual needs. This means sessions can focus on feelings, practical solutions, or understanding patterns that keep causing difficulty.

Her background includes additional study in cognitive behavioural therapy, bereavement and loss, domestic abuse, anxiety, anger and emotional regulation. Nicola also completed a foundation certificate in working with children and teens during training, and has experience supporting people with ADHD and autism diagnoses.

In sessions she aims to help clients find their own answers and recognise personal strengths. Conversations often look at practical steps and new ways of thinking alongside emotional processing. The tone is warm and straightforward, with attention to what each person needs right now.

Nicola works from the United Kingdom and runs therapy in English. She has three years of counselling experience since beginning practice in 2020 and is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP.

Therapeutic approaches and working online

Nicola describes her work as integrative, which means she adapts different techniques to suit each person. Integrative counselling blends talking therapies so sessions can focus on feelings, relationships and practical problem solving according to what helps most.

She also draws on cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, which looks at how thoughts and behaviours affect mood and helps people develop new ways of responding to anxiety, panic or unhelpful thinking. Nicola has undertaken additional study in bereavement and loss, and in supporting people affected by domestic abuse, which informs how she supports complex emotional issues.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Nicola will discuss options with clients and decide together what feels most useful. This collaborative process helps match methods to each person's needs, goals and preferences rather than prescribing a single path.

If you are considering online therapy, please confirm the available session formats before booking. Many people find online sessions convenient for fitting therapy into busy lives, for shorter check-ins between face-to-face appointments, or when needing a session without travel. Online work can make it easier to attend from different locations and can help sustain momentum between meetings while the therapist and client agree the best way to proceed.