About Joanna
Joanna Cottrell helps people who feel overwhelmed by stress, anxiety or low mood. She supports those struggling with self-esteem, motivation, career concerns and relationship difficulties. Joanna writes plainly and meets people where they are, so conversations stay straightforward and focused on what matters now.
She uses listening and practical techniques to help people make small, achievable changes. Sessions aim to clarify priorities, reduce unhelpful thoughts and build simple habits that make daily life easier.
How Joanna works
Joanna offers a calm, non-judgemental presence during these conversations. Joanna has eight years of experience working with counselling skills in the United Kingdom. She holds BACP accreditation, which reflects professional membership with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
That background informs how she plans and structures sessions. Her approach blends person-focused listening with methods that target thinking patterns and behaviour. These include cognitive behavioural techniques, solution-focused tools and motivational interviewing to help people find momentum and direction.
Trauma-focused methods are used when past events need careful attention. Joanna also supports people facing issues such as addiction, grief, intimacy concerns, sleeping and eating struggles, and caregiver stress. She is comfortable addressing complex combinations of difficulties, including chronic illness, attachment or dissociation experiences.
Conversations are paced to suit each person’s needs. Sessions are offered in English and take place online by video, phone, live chat or text messaging. Joanna works with individuals seeking practical, compassionate counselling to move forward from stuck patterns.
Joanna lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Joanna works with
The areas below are the ones Joanna selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
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
How online approaches support change
Joanna draws on cognitive behavioural therapy to help people notice and shift unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours. CBT gives practical steps to reduce anxiety, lift mood and change habits that get in the way of daily life. Motivational interviewing is used to build readiness for change by exploring personal values and gentle goal-setting. This approach can be useful for motivation, addiction concerns and career shifts.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Joanna will listen to a person's goals and preferences and suggest methods that suit their situation. The process is collaborative, with plans adjusted as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to make counselling easier to fit into busy lives. Video lets people use visual cues and deeper conversation, phone can be quicker with lower bandwidth, live chat suits shorter check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options aim to increase flexibility and make it simpler to keep therapy consistent around work and family life.
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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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