Barbara Engels, BACP

Barbara Engels is a counsellor who uses attachment-based and psychodynamic approaches to help people facing relationship strain and midlife choices. She holds BACP accreditation and has 18 years of experience in the United Kingdom. She speaks English and German and offers help for relationship problems, self-esteem struggles, anxiety and grief.

Her background includes long-term work with Relate counselling services and an autism-specialist charity. That work involved supporting individuals, couples and parents through bereavement, family conflict and workplace stress. She also has extensive experience offering autism-specialist counselling for couples and parents.

In sessions she focuses on understanding patterns that repeat in relationships and in the self. That can mean talking about early attachment experiences, current relationship difficulties, or the feelings behind low self-worth. The aim is to help clients notice patterns and try new ways of relating to themselves and others.

Practical concerns such as parenting, career decisions and coping with life changes are addressed alongside emotional material. She also works with people facing intimacy issues, trauma and abuse, and feelings of isolation or guilt. Midlife crisis is listed among her focus areas when people are reassessing purpose or relationships.

Barbara aims to tailor conversation and a plan to each person. She will listen in English or German and supports international clients. Starting therapy includes completing a short matching questionnaire and scheduling sessions according to availability.

How attachment and psychodynamic work translate to online therapy

Attachment-based work focuses on how early relationships shape current bonds and trust. In practical terms this means talking about patterns in close relationships, noticing how they play out now, and trying different responses to build safer connections. Psychodynamic work looks at unconscious patterns and repeated themes from the past, helping people understand why they feel or act a certain way and how to change those patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapy process. The therapist will work collaboratively to decide which methods suit your needs, goals and preferences. That conversation can include whether to focus more on relationship patterns, on deeper historical themes, or a mix of both as things evolve.

Confirm the session formats before booking, as the biography does not list specific options. Online therapy can make fitting sessions into everyday life easier by removing travel time and allowing appointments around work or family schedules. It can also allow shorter check-ins when long sessions are difficult and can reduce the need to be on camera if that helps you engage. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt these approaches to remote work while keeping practicalities in mind.