Victoria Mawdsley , BACP

Victoria Mawdsley is an integrative therapist with three years of clinical practice, bringing a calm and client-focused presence to each session. She works with people experiencing stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression, and the challenges of life changes, and she also offers support for caregiver stress, chronic pain and illness, domestic violence, loneliness, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, social anxiety, and workplace issues. Victoria holds BACP - the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - as a professional credential, reflecting her commitment to professional standards in counselling.

She has operated her private practice, VJM Counselling, for nearly two years, offering a welcoming space for short- and longer-term work. Prior to qualifying as a counsellor, Victoria spent over 20 years working in health and social care as a health care assistant, mainly in dementia care, and she draws on that background when it is helpful to clients.

Her therapeutic style is relaxed and attentive, centring the client and their needs. Her work blends person-centred principles with cognitive behavioural techniques, mindfulness practices, and psychoeducation to help people better understand themselves and build practical coping skills. She is committed to reducing stigma around mental health and to supporting people who feel exhausted from trying to hold everything together.

Client-Centered Approaches and Accessible Online Support

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on creating a warm, non-judgmental space where the client leads the conversation and the therapist offers empathy, active listening, and acceptance. This approach can help people work through grief, low mood, relationship difficulties, and the emotional impact of life changes by strengthening self-understanding and personal agency.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, used alongside a client-centred stance, helps clients identify unhelpful thought patterns and develop practical strategies to manage anxiety, panic, and stress. Mindfulness practices complement these approaches by teaching simple ways to ground attention and reduce overwhelm, which can be useful for trauma-related symptoms and chronic stress.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Victoria works collaboratively with each person to determine which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, and she adapts the work over time based on progress and feedback.

Online therapy with video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging offers flexibility for people with busy lives, caregiving responsibilities, or mobility limits. These options make it easier to maintain continuity of care, schedule sessions around daily commitments, and access regular support from licensed professionals and therapists regardless of location.