About Vanessa
Vanessa Putnam offers a practical, person-focused approach to therapy. She draws on nearly a decade of experience to help people manage stress, anxiety, low mood and life transitions. Vanessa works in English and is based in the United Kingdom.
She is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, listed as BACP. Vanessa combines client-centred listening with targeted techniques from cognitive behavioural therapy to tackle unhelpful thoughts and patterns.
How Vanessa works
She also uses psychodynamic ideas to look at repeating relationship patterns and systemic thinking to understand how family roles and dynamics affect day-to-day life. Sessions aim to be straightforward and tailored to what each person needs. People come to Vanessa for many struggles including grief, parenting concerns, addiction-related problems, sleep difficulties and coping with chronic illness.
She also supports those dealing with self-esteem issues, career uncertainty and compassion fatigue. Additional focus areas include attachment concerns, communication problems, blended family issues, and multicultural or discrimination-related stress. Vanessa works in a respectful, sensitive way and adapts the pace to each person.
She believes therapy begins with listening, then together they decide on practical steps and goals. Over time the work can include short-term strategies and deeper reflection, depending on what the person wants to achieve. To begin, Vanessa asks people to complete an initial matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions that suit their routine.
She explains how a subscription model is used for session payments and that it can be cancelled at any time.
Vanessa lists 4 ways of working on the entry:
What Vanessa works with
The areas below are the ones Vanessa 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
- Addictions
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Family problems
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Isolation / loneliness
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | BACP |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 9 |
| 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 Vanessa's approaches work online
Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person's experience. The therapist offers empathy and reflection so people feel heard, and this helps them clarify what they want to change. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and behaviours and gives clear strategies to reduce anxiety, improve sleep or manage low mood.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Vanessa will discuss goals, preferences and what has or hasn't helped before, then suggest ways forward. That decision is collaborative so people can try practical techniques or more reflective work depending on their needs.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video works well for in-depth sessions where face-to-face interaction matters. Phone sessions can be useful for shorter check-ins or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text messaging allow quicker exchanges and flexible check-ins during busy weeks. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving or other commitments while keeping the therapeutic focus.
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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