Judith Macdonald-Lawson BSc PG Dip MBACP (Accred) UKRCP FMCA
About me
I am a Couples and Family Psychotherapist, Accredited Family Mediator, Child Consultant and Family Consultant/Divorce Coach. I work with couples at all stages of their relationship. I provide short and long term counselling for couples experiencing difficulties in their relationship. I also specialise in working with clients and their family members during separation, divorce and afterwards.
The services I offer clients adhere to the BACP Code of Ethical Practice, the FMC Code of Practice and are confidential.
- Relationship Counselling provides help for couples who are experiencing difficulties in their relationship, whether arising from the relationship itself, or from other external factors. Couples are encouraged to explore their problems in a safe, impartial conversation, to improve understanding of why these problems are occurring, and how to make changes. If you are parents who are arguing a lot, your children will be aware these tensions; ultimately they too will benefit from your counselling.
- Separating Parents are sessions to help couples who have decided to end their relationship. During this difficult transition, which will be painful for you all, decisions need to be taken about how to tell the children, who moves out and when, what arrangements will be made for your children to see you both, as well as helping your children with their fears. Several sessions with an experienced couples counsellor can help you to negotiate some of these issues; you may be signposted to other sources of support.
- Family Support sessions aim to help separated and divorced couples who are struggling to work together to provide consistent and cooperative parenting for their children. As a qualified family mediator and child consultant, I am able to work with both parents and their children to improve what can often feel like an impossible situation.
- Family Consultancy/Divorce Coaching is a service to support couples who choose to negotiate their divorce through either family mediation or collaborative law. Couples may find that having emotional support, either together or separately, can help with the painful process of making decisions about child arrangements, property and finance. Some collaborative lawyers choose to work with family consultants as part of the negotiating process.
- Family Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution leading to separation and divorce, providing couples with the chance to make their own decisions about child arrangements, property and finance. Couples meet with the mediator who can help them discuss the future in a constructive and respectful way. Family mediation is voluntary, less costly and less lengthy than adversarial court proceedings, and it is more likely that separating parents will be able to maintain more effective communication after separation and divorce.
Training, qualifications & experience
- BSc
- PGCE (Secondary Science)
- Relate Certificate in Couple Therapy (University of East London)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy (University of Hull)
- Post-qualifying Certificate In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Skills (WPF)
- Accredited member of BACP
- UKRCP
- Family Mediation Foundation Training (Family Mediation Association)
- MIAMS training (Family Mediation Association)
- Accredited member of Family Mediation Association
- Child Inclusive Mediator/Child Consultant
- Family Consultant
As a counsellor, I use an integrated theoretical approach; my training in psychodynamic, systemic, attachment and cognitive behavioural therapies allows me to tailor the work to the clients’ needs.
Member organisations
Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership

Accredited Register Scheme
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
Therapies offered
Fees
Relationship Counselling £90 per 50 minute session
Short-term work (6 sessions)
Longer-term work as required
Separating Parents £120 per hour, usually 1-2 sessions
Family Support £120 per hour
Family Consultancy £120 per hour, as part of collaborative law sessions
Family Mediation Please contact me for further details