Maniesha Blakey
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About me
Hello, I’m Maniesha.
Most people don’t come to counselling because something is wrong with them. They come because the ways they’ve learned to cope have started to cost more than they give back.
I’m a registered counsellor with a Master of Counselling. I’ve worked with university students finding their feet, couples carrying the strain of IUI and IVF, and adults at many different stages of life.
I’ve also lived and worked across three continents, which has taught me there is no single “right” way to feel, grieve, love, or recover. Your culture, context, and history matter, and I’ll want to understand them.
I specialise in:
- Anxiety and stress
- Burnout
- Relationship difficulties
- Abuse and its longer-term effects
- Bullying in adulthood - at work, in families, friendships or communities
Adult bullying is often brushed aside or viewed as something to ignore. Yet it can shake your confidence and sense of safety as deeply as anything that happened in childhood. You won’t need to justify why it affected you here.
My work is trauma-aware and attachment-focused. In plain terms, I’m curious about how your early relationships shaped what you expect from others and from yourself.
I also pay attention to how your body and nervous system respond to stress, not just your thoughts. Patterns like people-pleasing, overworking, or pulling away usually made sense once. We can look at them with respect rather than blame.
Alongside counselling, I coach founders and leaders, so I understand high-pressure environments and the particular loneliness of being the one everyone else relies on.
If any of this feels familiar, you’re welcome to get in touch.
Training, qualifications & experience
Training, Qualifications & Experience
Qualifications
Master of Counselling – Monash University
MSc Epidemiology – London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London
Professional membership
Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) – Membership No. 400590.
Therapeutic training
My foundation is person-centred counselling, and I work integratively, drawing on:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Couples counselling, including support for couples going through fertility treatment (IVF and IUI)
- Attachment-informed practice
- Trauma-aware practice
- Strengths-based approaches
Counselling experience
- Adults: counselling for local, expatriate and EAP clients
- Couples in fertility treatment: emotional support in preparation of and through IVF and IUI
- University students: counselling and crisis support
- Addiction: drug, alcohol and mental health assessments; counsellor training and support for volunteer team
Wider experience
I have delivered mental health and resilience training for organisations across countries. I also work as a coach with founders and leaders, which gives me a particular understanding of burnout, overload, and high-pressure work.
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
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£55.00 - £100.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Individual session: £75 (in person) / £55 (online)
Couples session: £100 (in person) / £80 (online)
Concessions: a limited number of reduced-fee places for students and people on a low income.
Cancellations:
I need 48 hours’ notice to cancel or rearrange. Sessions cancelled with less notice are charged in full.
Further information
Individual counselling: 50 minutes
Couples counselling: 75 minutes.
I work online and in-person.
Getting started:
I offer a one-time free 15-minute call so you can ask questions and see whether we’re a good fit, with no obligation to continue.
