Jo Baker

Hi, I am an approachable, warm, empathic counsellor and I specialise in supporting people at times of stress, change and with difficult feelings and anxieties. I have also worked in the corporate world for 30 years so I have a lot of experience of the challenges and demands that people face in organisations, and in helping people cope and move forwards. Please keep reading to see the full range of issues I can help with.

Issues I work with:

I help people with both personal and professional issues and I offer longer term psychotherapy and short term, solution focused work.

Personal issues include: stress, anxiety and panic, anger management, relationship difficulties, social anxiety, feeling sad, depression/low mood, low self confidence/low self esteem, parenting issues, pregnancy, separation, divorce, and bereavement. 

Work related issues include: career and executive coaching, (leadership/people management/influencing skills, coaching). I often help clients become more confident and influential at work and help them tackle difficult people/relationships and stressful situations especially during change e.g. a new job or promotion.

People can hesitate about seeing a counsellor because they believe their problems are too small, or they are concerned that talking won't make a difference and that they should be able to sort out their difficulties themselves. Many people also quite understandably do not know what to expect from counselling and they hesitate to seek help because of this. It can feel daunting.

What Triggers People to Consider Counselling?

Knowing when we need help is a life skill but people come to counselling for different reasons. Sometimes their difficulties are triggered by a specific event e.g. redundancy, a new job, a relationship ending or bereavement. For others it may be on-going issues like depression or anxiety or ill health. It takes courage to face our problems and step into a counselling or coaching situation.

How I work

I have a free telephone call with you to initiate contact and see if you feel I am an appropriate person to work with, before you start spending money. Whatever you bring, I work alongside you, helping you to create change and feel a greater sense of wellbeing. The biggest predictor of success is the relationship with your counsellor so feel free to have a look at my video on my website to get more of a sense of me and perhaps read some testimonials. Together, we develop a direction for the work or set some goals. As people start to feel more resourceful, they begin to make changes.

In short term work, (a few weeks or months), I may use more cognitive or behavioural techniques which you may benefit from using yourself. Longer term work ( 6 months plus) may be more appropriate if your issues are deeper or if they have been present for a number of years.

I have a consulting room in West Ealing which is near Northfields and Boston Manor tubes and West Ealing train station. I also work virtually.