About me
Jackie Connaughton
Online counsellor · UK-wide · 25+ years' experience · BACP registered
You are coping. You have probably been coping for a long time. But somewhere beneath the functioning, something feels off, a low hum of anxiety that won't quite settle, a pattern that keeps returning, a tiredness that sleep doesn't fix.
You are not in crisis. You are just ready to understand what is actually going on, and to stop carrying it alone.
If that sounds familiar, you may be exactly who I work with.
How I work
My work is relational, gentle, and grounded in an understanding of how the nervous system responds to stress, not just in the moment, but over years and across a lifetime. I am particularly interested in the way the body holds what the mind has learned to manage, and what becomes possible when we begin to work with both.
Rather than asking what is wrong with you, we explore what your system has learned to do in order to cope, and whether those patterns are still serving you.
I have a specific interest in trauma, attachment, the nervous system, and the way emotional and relational patterns are passed down through families and generations. Many of the people I work with arrive carrying something that feels partly unfamiliar, responses that seem outsized, patterns that feel older than their own story. That territory is one I know well.
I also work with grief and loss, not as a set of stages to move through, but as something that deserves time, space, and genuine witness. This includes the losses that are not always named: the relationships that changed, the version of life that didn't happen, the things that were never mourned because there was no room to.
My work draws on person-centred counselling, an attachment and nervous system understanding, somatic awareness, and intergenerational and trauma approaches. I work at your pace, with care for readiness and no pressure to move faster than feels safe.
Who I most often work with
- You might recognise yourself here:
- You function well but feel emotionally exhausted or quietly disconnected
- You live with anxiety that doesn't have an obvious cause, or that never fully switches off
- You have spent years being the strong one, the capable one, the person others lean on
- You are carrying grief or loss that has not yet had space to land
- You feel guilt when you rest, say no, or take up space
- You notice patterns in your relationships or responses that you cannot seem to shift
- You sense that some of what you carry is not entirely yours
- You are ready to explore something, not because you are in crisis, but because you are tired of just managing
- You do not need a diagnosis or a presenting problem. You need to be ready to look.
My background
I have been working as a counsellor with adults for over 25 years. I am a registered member of BACP and work within their ethical framework. My ongoing professional development is strongly influenced by the work of Peter Levine, Gabor Maté, Deb Dana, and Dr Mariel Buque, practitioners whose thinking shapes how I understand the nervous system, the body, and the long reach of early experience.
We do not break cycles. We are thread shifters.
A different kind of depth: Unthread™
Some clients choose to explore inherited emotional patterns more deliberately through Unthread™ a reflective programme I developed for people ready to look clearly at what has been passed down to them, and to begin choosing what they want to carry forward.
It works independently of counselling, though it sits alongside it naturally. Some clients come to both. Many come only to counselling. There is no expectation either way.
Online sessions
I work online with adults anywhere in the UK via secure video. Many clients find that being in their own space makes it easier to slow down and feel genuinely safe, which matters when the work is this kind.
- Fee: £75 per session
- Session length: 60 minutes
- Location: UK-wide, online via secure video
- First step: Complimentary20-minute consultation call, no obligation
Taking the first step
You do not need to know exactly what to say, or have it all figured out. If something here feels familiar, even quietly, that is enough to begin.
When something stirs, that is enough. Get in touch.
I
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Training, qualifications & experience
Training, qualifications and experience
I am an integrative counsellor with over 25 years of experience supporting adults through anxiety, grief, loss, trauma, and repeating emotional or relational patterns, including those shaped by early experience or passed down through families.
Approach and training
- Person-centred counselling
- Attachment theory and relational practice
- Nervous system and polyvagal-informed practice
- Somatic awareness and embodiment approaches
- Intergenerational trauma
- Emotional regulation
- Trauma, the long effects, not always named as such, but felt as exhaustion, hypervigilance, shutdown, or a sense of never quite feeling safe
- Grief and loss, including losses that were never named or had space to be mourned
Professional registration
Registered member of BACP. All work is held within their ethical framework, ensuring complete confidentiality and the highest professional standards.
Ongoing professional development
My continuing development is informed by the work of Peter Levine, Gabor Maté, Deb Dana, Dr Bruce Perry, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, and Dr Mariel Buque.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
- Stress Management
- Workplace stress and burnout
- Sleep Issues
Therapies offered
Fees
£75.00 per session
Additional information
Fees and practical information
If something in my profile has resonated, the first step is a complimentary 20-minute consultation call, a relaxed, no-obligation conversation to explore what is bringing you now and to see whether working together feels like the right fit.
Fee
£75 per session, payable by BACS before each session. Packages are available for those choosing to work longer term.
Cancellations
I ask for 24 hours' notice where possible. This helps keep the space held and available for you and for others.
Getting in touch
You do not need to have the words yet. When you are ready, I am here.
When I work
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Further information
I offer online counselling for adults across the UK who are living with anxiety, stress, grief, loss, or the effects of trauma, including patterns that feel relational, inherited, or difficult to name.
My work is informed by attachment theory, polyvagal and nervous system understanding, somatic awareness, and intergenerational approaches. I work with what the body holds as much as what the mind knows, and I am particularly interested in the patterns that persist despite insight, the ones that feel older than your own story.
This is careful, considered work. It moves at your pace, with no pressure to arrive anywhere before you are ready.
