Emma Simpson

I offer you a safe space that allows you a moment to put down what you have been carrying. By observing thoughts and feelings together, we can explore what has brought you to counselling, how this has come about, and how you would like things to be different.

Working with me will be warm, genuine, and collaborative. I have experience in a number of different areas including anxiety, depression, self-esteem, relationships, trauma and abuse, neurodiversity, disability and chronic health issues, and difficulties with food/body image. I have a particular interest in how our relationship with ourselves can affect other parts of our life. 

How Counselling Can Help

Talking to someone about what we're going through can be intimidating, especially when we feel overwhelmed. Often, we try to push our worries away and do everything we can to feel better on our own. Except when we keep things to ourselves, it can feel like they grow bigger and bigger. 

Counselling gives you the space to pause, and stop these problems from growing. Looking at our hopes and fears isn't easy, but by working together, I can help you shoulder that burden and find a better understanding of what you're facing.

By putting words to your experience, it can become easier to see solutions. As we notice the thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that come up for you, we can explore how things might be different. Rather than tell you what to do, I will support you to consider what is going on and find your own way forward. I will meet you where you are at, and I offer my acceptance, empathy, and curiosity to do this. 

My Approach

I completed my training in person-centred and psychodynamic counselling. As a person-centred counsellor, I believe that you are the expert on yourself, not me. As a psychodynamic counsellor, I am curious about how past experiences can shape the present. I also draw on existential therapy, which holds the human experience at its core. 

Before counselling, I worked for a decade in the higher education and charity sectors, helping people of different identities and backgrounds, and I bring this experience to my practice. I believe that we are all different and that there is no single approach that suits everyone. I therefore work from an integrative perspective, and always keep an open mind towards anything you may bring. 

It can be hard to decide when you're presented with so many counsellors in a directory. I offer a free 15 minute meeting through my website, so you can get a feel for if I'm the right fit. Reaching out can be a big step so please share as little or as much as feels comfortable - any questions you may have are more than welcome. Whatever brings you here today, it is a privilege to be even a small part of your journey.

Standard session cost at £50.

Concession at £40.

I am a climate-aware therapist and a member of Climate Psychology Alliance International. I recognise that the climate crisis is both a global threat to life on Earth and a deeply personal threat to the mental and physical wellbeing - the sense of safety, meaning, and purpose - of each individual, family, and community on the planet. Being a climate-aware therapist means that I:

• Believe that the professional training of the allied mental-health therapy and counselling communities are needed to address the climate crisis.
• Commit to delivering the highest-quality mental health services to all my clients - which can include addressing cognitive, affective, personal, societal, and existential repercussions of the climate crisis.
• Respond to clients in a humane and compassionate manner.
• Acknowledge the complicated nature of the human response to climate crisis, without presuming the presence or absence of climate-related distress.
• Understand how our relationships to nature and living systems, and our interaction with climate science and climate media, can be useful tools for integrating and resolving psychological conflicts and stressors.