About Paula
Paula Smyton is a UK counsellor with around 10 years of experience across counselling services, education, mental health settings and independent practice. She holds BACP accreditation, and she combines psychodynamic ideas with person-centred listening to help people untangle difficult feelings. Paula aims to make therapy straightforward and approachable for those who are worried or overwhelmed.
Many clients come after long periods of coping alone. They often describe anxiety, low mood, relationship strain, family pressures, grief, or a sense that something is off.
How Paula works
Paula meets each person without judgement and without pressure to have everything figured out at once. Sessions offer a calm, thoughtful space to pause and reflect. Paula listens for patterns that repeat across relationships and moments when past experiences keep shaping present reactions.
This helps people understand why they feel stuck and where small changes might help. She also uses practical techniques from approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy when useful. These methods can help with stress, sleep, eating concerns, low mood, anger and coping with life changes by teaching new ways to manage thoughts and emotions.
Paula describes her style as warm and supportive. She works collaboratively to set aims that fit each person's life and pace. The focus is on helping people feel less alone, clearer about their choices, and better able to carry on between sessions.
Paula lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Paula works with
The areas below are the ones Paula selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 10 |
| 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 Paula’s approaches work online
Paula uses psychodynamic ideas to look at how past experiences shape current feelings and relationships. This approach helps when recurring patterns leave someone feeling stuck or unsure about their reactions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on noticing thoughts and choosing actions that match personal values, which can help with anxiety, low mood and life transitions.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Paula treats this as a collaborative process - she will talk through different ways of working and agree what fits the person's goals, life and preferences. Techniques can be adjusted as therapy progresses so sessions stay relevant and practical.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when that helps connection. Phone sessions can fit into a busy day or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and messaging suit shorter check-ins or times when writing feels easier. These options make it simpler to keep therapy going around work, family and travel.
Start online instead of waiting
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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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