About Valerie
Valerie Stanley-Brooks is a counsellor with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and 25 years of experience. She offers calm, practical support for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, loss, anxiety or difficult life changes. She uses a blend of approaches so sessions match the person in front of her.
That means some people focus on understanding long-standing patterns, and others learn straightforward tools to manage thoughts and feelings.
How Valerie works
Valerie adapts the work to suit each person rather than applying one fixed method. Her background spans schools, therapeutic services and voluntary work, so she is used to different life situations and varied emotional challenges. Valerie helps with grief, trauma and abuse alongside issues such as addictions, low self-esteem and sleep problems.
She also supports people dealing with relationship strain, intimacy problems and the stresses of parenting. Valerie offers help with specific concerns like abandonment, adoption and foster care issues, autism-related matters, blended family tensions and fatherhood questions. She also supports those coping with career changes, compassion fatigue and the emotional impact of disasters.
Sessions are practical and conversational. Valerie provides resources and simple exercises to use between meetings. The aim is to build coping skills and clearer perspective so people can make the changes they want.
Valerie lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Valerie works with
The areas below are the ones Valerie selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 25 |
| 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 how they work online
Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening and building a trusting relationship. It helps people feel heard and supported while they talk through their concerns and decide on next steps.Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviours keep problems going. It offers practical exercises and straightforward strategies for anxiety, low mood, sleep and many everyday difficulties.
Trauma-Focused Therapy addresses the impact of traumatic events by helping people process memories and reduce distressing symptoms. It is useful for those coping with abuse, major losses or frightening incidents.
Finding the best approach is part of the work. Valerie will discuss options and agree a plan together, adjusting methods as needs and goals change. The process is collaborative and paced to what feels manageable.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging so people can choose what fits their life. Video helps keep visual connection, phone can be a simpler option with less bandwidth, and messaging suits short check-ins or when writing feels easier. These formats make counselling more flexible and easier to fit around work, family and travel.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
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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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