About Shirley
Shirley Banton is a BACP counsellor with 11 years' experience supporting people through stress, anxiety and life transitions. She works in the United Kingdom and offers online sessions for those who prefer remote support. Shirley aims to create a calm, steady space where people can slow down and talk about what matters to them.
Her approach begins with a client-centred foundation that keeps the person's pace and priorities central. She blends this with psychodynamic ideas to help uncover repeating patterns, and draws on cognitive behavioural techniques to address unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.
How Shirley works
Mindfulness also features in her practice to help people manage anxiety and build awareness of bodily and emotional states. Shirley has a long history of supporting those affected by trauma and relational abuse, including coercive control and long-term patterns of harm.
She also brings experience from further and higher education settings, which gives insight into pressures faced by students and educators during transitions and periods of burnout. People choose Shirley when they want depth rather than quick fixes. Sessions focus on understanding patterns, rebuilding self-worth, and developing clearer boundaries.
She works in collaboration with each person to plan steps that fit their life and goals. Online appointments are offered by video, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to suit different needs. To begin, prospective clients complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
Shirley lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Shirley works with
The areas below are the ones Shirley 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
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 11 |
| 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 online and how they help
Shirley commonly combines client-centred practice with cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness. Client-centred work focuses on listening and following the person's pace, helping them feel heard and respected as they make sense of difficulties. Cognitive behavioural therapy looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions and offers practical steps to change unhelpful patterns that maintain anxiety or low mood. Mindfulness teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and increase calm in the body and mind.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Shirley will discuss what feels most helpful, try different methods where needed, and adjust the plan based on the person's goals and preferences. The therapist treats the work as a tailored process rather than a fixed programme.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video is useful for in-depth conversations when visual contact helps, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text fits shorter check-ins or when typing feels easier. These options make it simpler to fit therapy around work, family life or location while keeping focus on steady progress.
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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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