About Alison
Alison Preston helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, grief, anger, depression, relationship strain, sleep or eating problems, low self‑esteem and big life changes. She is a counsellor with eight years of experience and holds BACP registration. Alison writes plainly and listens with care to understand what each person is facing.
Her approach is steady and practical. Sessions focus on what is troubling someone now and on small, workable steps to feel better.
How Alison works
She prefers clear conversation over jargon and uses techniques that fit the person rather than forcing a single method. Alison uses a mix of client‑centred work, cognitive behavioural ideas and mindfulness to help people notice patterns, change unhelpful thoughts and build new ways of coping. She also draws on psychodynamic and solution‑focused ideas when they match a person's needs.
These methods are chosen to suit what the person wants to achieve. People can expect a calm, respectful space for talking through difficult feelings and practical problems. Alison aims to make sessions feel manageable and relevant, with tasks and reflections between appointments when helpful.
She accepts people from the United Kingdom and internationally for online work. Starting therapy typically involves a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a session. Alison supports people who want steady guidance through grief, help with anxiety or depression, or practical tools for everyday stress and relationships.
Alison lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Alison works with
The areas below are the ones Alison selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Anger management
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 8 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapeutic approaches and online working
Alison works with client‑centred therapy, which puts the person and their experience at the heart of sessions. That means she prioritises listening, reflecting back what she hears and helping people make sense of how they feel. Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, is also part of her toolkit and focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing new ways of thinking and behaving to reduce anxiety or low mood.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Alison will talk with each person about their goals and preferences, and then decide together which methods to try. This collaborative process means approaches can be adapted as someone learns what helps them most.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls recreate face‑to‑face conversation, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits short check‑ins or times when writing feels easier, and text messaging helps people reflect between sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy around work, family and travel, while keeping the focus on useful tools and steady progress with a registered counsellor.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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