Karen Bell, BACP

Karen Bell is a UK counsellor who brings 18 years of practice to her work. She uses a person-centred approach that keeps the client at the heart of each session. Karen emphasises listening without judgement and aims to create a calm, respectful space to talk through what matters most.

Her background includes counselling in a GP practice, trauma work with Someone Cares, and occupational health counselling for Northumbria Police where she supported people through stress and traumatic incidents. This range of roles means she has worked with anxiety, depression and bereavement alongside complex trauma presentations.

In sessions she focuses on what people are feeling and how they cope, rather than on labels. She also offers help with addiction-related struggles, relationship problems, eating and sleeping difficulties, and midlife transitions. Karen welcomes people of any gender, sexuality, culture or religion and invites clients with neurodiversity or ADHD to share their needs openly.

Karen is a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, BACP. She describes her style as compassionate, non-judgemental, and down-to-earth, and she encourages honest conversation about difficult experiences such as narcissistic abuse and gaslighting.

To start she asks clients to be open about what they want from counselling. She aims to work collaboratively, helping people explore choices and develop ways of coping that fit their everyday life.

How her approaches work in online sessions

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationships shape current feelings and reactions; it helps people understand connection patterns and work on trust and closeness issues. Client-Centred Therapy, also called person-centred, puts the person's experience first and relies on empathic listening to help people make sense of their feelings and choices. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours and provides practical strategies to change unhelpful patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Karen will work with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals and preferences. This is a collaborative conversation and plans can change as therapy progresses.

Confirm the current session options before booking, as formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit counselling into a busy life, for example by removing travel time or allowing shorter check-ins during a break. It can also let people choose video or phone contact depending on how they prefer to communicate. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt exercises, grounding techniques and EMDR-informed methods to work in remote sessions when appropriate.