Claire Bosanquet

You might be feeling anxious, overwhelmed, stuck in old patterns, or finding relationships harder than they used to be. Many people come to therapy when life feels heavy, confusing, or disconnected, when they’re trying to hold everything together on the outside while feeling unsure or exhausted inside.

I’m Claire, an integrative counsellor and psychotherapist based in Bristol (also offering online sessions UK‑wide). I support people with a wide range of concerns, and I offer a calm, steady space where you can slow down, make sense of what’s happening, and reconnect with yourself.

What you may be experiencing
You might notice:

• A constant sense of anxiety or worry
• Low mood, sadness, or feeling stuck
• Stress, burnout, or emotional exhaustion
• Relationship difficulties or repeating old patterns
• People‑pleasing, boundary challenges, or feeling “too much”
• A loud inner critic and persistent self‑doubt
• Loneliness, even when surrounded by others
• Overthinking or replaying conversations
• A sense of going through the motions rather than truly living

These experiences can be confusing and isolating, but they’re also incredibly common. You don’t have to face them alone.

 
How therapy can support you
Working together can help you:

• Feel calmer, more grounded, and less overwhelmed
• Understand and soothe your inner critic
• Build confidence in expressing your needs
• Strengthen your relationships and set healthier boundaries
• Recover from burnout and protect your energy
• Develop coping strategies that genuinely support you
• Reconnect with meaning, purpose, and a sense of self
• Feel more in control of your life and choices

My approach is gentle, collaborative, and paced around what feels right for you. You won’t be pushed to share more than you want to. Therapy is a space where you can breathe, reflect, and be met with compassion.

 Who I work with
I support adults experiencing:

• Anxiety, worry, and overthinking
• Low mood, depression, or feeling stuck
• Stress, burnout, and overwhelm
• Relationship difficulties
• People‑pleasing and boundary challenges
• Low self-worth or self-criticism
• Childhood emotional neglect or emotionally immature parents
• High sensitivity (HSP traits)
• Chronic illness or long-term health conditions

Chronic Illness & Long-Term Health Conditions (my specialist interest)
Alongside general counselling, I also have a special interest in supporting people living with chronic illness, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, Long Covid, diabetes, and other long-term conditions.

Living with a long-term health condition can bring uncertainty, exhaustion, and emotional strain. You may feel grief for the life you imagined, guilt about not being able to “do it all,” or overwhelm from the constant demands of managing your health.

If this is part of your experience, therapy can help you:

• Protect your time and energy
• Sit with difficult feelings without becoming overwhelmed
• Explore healthier ways to cope with the demands of illness
• Reconnect with who you are beyond your diagnosis

This work is available if you need it but it doesn’t define who I work with. Many of my clients do not have chronic illness.

Session Fee: £60.00

Next steps:
If you’re ready to feel more grounded, more confident, and more connected to yourself, I offer a free introductory online call. It’s a chance to meet, ask questions, and get a sense of how therapy might support you.

 
Your first session:
Our first session is designed to feel clear and comfortable. I’ll walk you through the agreement, explore what you’d like to focus on, and give us both a sense of how working together feels. We’ll set a pace that works for you, with no pressure to share more than you want to.

 Client Testimonials:

A Supportive and Professional Space

"I very much enjoyed working with Claire. She was calm, compassionate and created a relaxing space. She is knowledgeable at what she does and handles everything with professionalism.

Through working with Claire, I have developed a clearer understanding of myself and have developed a toolkit of strategies to move forward. She is fab! Overall wellbeing and attitudes towards my self and health has greatly improved" - I.S.

A Healing Journey

"I have recently finished my therapy with Claire and I couldn’t be more grateful. From the start, she created a warm, supportive and non judgmental environment where I felt comfortable sharing my thoughts and emotions.

She provided a lot of guidance to help me navigate very difficult moments. Every session left me feeling more at peace and better about myself.

Claire’s support has been invaluable in my journey of healing and finding new way in life. I can highly recommend working with her".

A Balance of Warmth and Expertise

"I found working with Claire a great experience. She is professional yet warm and very knowledgeable. I felt comfortable in her presence and created a safe space for difficult conversations. I also found her appropriate use of humour to be reassuring that she is human.

I have been able to enjoy life a bit more and have been given tools to handle my illness and self with more compassion" -G.C.

Gaining Clarity and Emotional Strength

"Your approach is both pragmatic and insightful—you knew when to ask the right questions, when to challenge my thinking in a constructive way, and when to hold space.

I feel more in control of my anxiety and emotions, and I’m able to handle stress and difficult situations with much greater calm and clarity. I’ve become more self-aware of the present, and have made an effort to take things a day at a time rather than pre-planning every element life".

Clear, constructive support that helped me understand my struggle.

I found it really helpful to discuss a clear problem I had and look at reasons for why I was struggling and methods to approach it with. It felt constructive. 

I felt deeply understood and more confident in myself.

“My experience working with Claire always made me feel very safe and understood. She noted my feelings, even when they weren’t the ones I was openly showing, and was often able to pick up on how I was doing and what may have been getting me down. She has a gentle and comforting approach which I really appreciated. I have become more accepting of the things which get me down and more open to understanding these things and my feelings towards them in new ways. I feel a greater ability to see things and myself in a new way, and more confident in my ability to grow and develop and to find confidence in myself. I find myself implementing new ways of thinking and challenging myself to new ways of doing things.”

I offer sessions:

Tuesdays: Online (late morning) and face-to-face/in-person (afternoon and early evening) in Stokes Croft - BS2.

Wednesdays: Online (late morning) and face-to-face/in-person (afternoon and early evening) in Cotham Hill - BS6.

Thursdays: Online (late morning) and face-to-face/in-person (afternoon and early evening) in Southville - BS3.

Fridays: In-person in Southville - BS3

I also work with university students facing the stress of academic and social pressures, helping you build resilience, set boundaries, and find balance, so that university feels like a place of growth rather than constant pressure.

You might be:

• Feeling homesick, lonely, disconnected and struggle to make friends.
• Dreading deadlines or struggling with perfectionism.
• Unsure who you are or what you really want.
• Struggling with the transition to independent living.
• Caught in difficult relationships or life transitions.

I offer an initial free of charge telephone/online consultation for you to introduce yourself and talk about the reasons you’ve come to therapy. If you then decide that you’d like to work with me, I can offer flexibility with short-term or longer-term work.