Carmen Matthews , BACP

Carmen Matthews is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with three years of professional experience. She focuses on stress, anxiety, relationship strain, family problems, trauma and abuse, and midlife changes. Carmen emphasises the client as the expert in their own story and looks to build trust from the first sessions.

Carmen works in a straightforward way that keeps conversations clear and grounded. She helps people name what feels difficult, spot patterns, and try small changes that can make day-to-day life easier. She aims to create a calm space where people can practise new ways of coping and thinking.

Her background includes work with people facing grief, low self-esteem and depression, as well as those managing career pressures and major life transitions. Carmen also supports clients dealing with attachment and abandonment concerns, blended family issues, and problems linked to substance use or domestic violence.

In sessions she draws on client-centred listening alongside practical, skills-based techniques from cognitive behavioural therapy. She also uses psychodynamic ideas to help people make sense of past patterns and solution-focused work to set achievable goals.

Carmen describes therapy as a process that takes time and trust, and she encourages people to treat it as a form of self-care. She invites prospective clients to take the first step when they feel ready and to work together at a pace that suits them.

Approaches that guide online work and progress

Carmen draws on client-centred therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy to shape her online work. Client-centred therapy means she offers empathic listening and follows the client’s pace so they feel heard and understood. Cognitive behavioural therapy focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing small changes in behaviour to reduce anxiety and lift mood.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Carmen discusses different methods with each person and together they choose what fits the client’s needs, goals and preferences. She frames this as a collaborative process and adjusts the plan as people notice what helps.

The original profile does not list specific session formats, so please confirm available options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy around daily life, for example by reducing travel time, making shorter check-ins possible, or allowing sessions during a lunch break. It can also let people continue therapy while managing relocations or busy schedules. Registered or accredited professionals and therapists often find similar approaches translate well to online settings, allowing the same mix of listening, practical exercises and goal setting offered in face-to-face work.