Rachael Coward


Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
About me
I am qualified integrative psychotherapist committed to working compassionately, honestly and with gentleness to help you achieve the changes you seek.
Are you struggling with anxiety, depression, or unhelpful thoughts? Have you lost confidence, feel isolated, or are facing challenges in an important relationship? Do recurring patterns leave you feeling stuck or uncertain about what you want? Whatever your current challenges, starting therapy could mark the beginning of meaningful change, you don't have to figure it out alone. My aim is to help you feel more connected to yourself, clearer about your needs, and freer to live in a way that feels true to who you are.
My Approach
As an integrative counsellor, I work relationally, exploring what is happening between us in the here and now to give us clues on how you are in relationship. I use a range of counselling theories and I will work with you collaboratively to facilitate what it is you would like to achieve.
We might look at your early experiences to see how they are impacting you in your current life, this is not to find someone to blame but quite often we carry unconscious emotions from our past because we were not able to process them at the time. We avoided those emotions in helpful and adaptive ways. Now, however, these ways do not serve us in our adult life. We will look at these patterns and explore life events and the historical roots of your difficulties with care and compassion.
How I work
I work using an accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy namely AB-ISTDP (Attachment based Intensive short term dynamic psychotherapy).This approach is designed to help you get to the heart of emotional difficulties as quickly and effectively as possible. Many of the struggles we face in adult life, like anxiety, depression, or relationship issues, are shaped by unprocessed emotions and protective patterns we developed earlier in life. These patterns often operate outside of our awareness. AB-ISTDP helps identify and gently work through these hidden emotional blocks by paying close attention to what’s happening moment-by-moment in the session. It's a focused, experiential therapy that aims to create lasting change by resolving the emotional roots of your difficulties, not just managing the surface symptoms.
As part of this way of working, sessions are routinely video recorded which is a common and important practice in ISTDP. These recordings support the effectiveness of the therapy by allowing me to reflect on the work in detail and continue developing my skills. They may also be used in supervision with experienced clinicians to ensure you're receiving the highest quality of care. Recordings are kept securely and treated with complete confidentiality at all times.
Training, qualifications & experience
Middlesex University
BSc (Hons) in Counselling/psychotherapy
University of Greenwich
FdSc Integrative Counselling/psychotherapy (Clarkson)
Specialist training
Introduction to Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP-UK)
ISTDP-London Core training - three years ongoing.
The Berne Institute
Transactional Analysis 101
As well as my private practice, I have experience volunteering as a counsellor at: The Olive Branch, a charity in Winchester offering low-cost counselling to adults & 121 Adult Counselling with Hart Voluntary Action.
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
My specialities are:
- anxiety
- depression
- emotional neglect
- abuse
- relationship issues
- family dynamics
- trauma (PTSD & CPTSD)
- Grief and loss
Therapies offered
Fees
£70.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Fees
Weekly sessions - £70 per session (60 minutes)
Bi-weekly sessions - £100 per session (90 minutes)
I offer a 15 minute consultation to answer any questions and to see if we are a good fit. Please either email or book a slot by clicking the 'Book intro call' button to arrange this.
Cancellations and missed sessions
I require a minimum of 24 hours to cancel a booked session, the full fee is payable if you cancel within this time. If you miss a session without cancelling , the full fee is due.
When I work
Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Morning | |||||||
Afternoon | |||||||
Evening | |||||||
Night |
Please contact me for up to date availability.
Further information
I am a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I work within their Ethical Framework
I am committed to ongoing personal and professional development and see a clinical supervisor regularly.
I offer face-to-face sessions, which can be long-term or short-term.
I offer online sessions.
Please feel free to reach out by phone, email or website. Or click 'book intro call' button.
I look forward to hearing from you.