Barbara Cross, NCPS

Barbara Cross is a counsellor registered with the NCPS and brings nine years of professional experience. She offers a warm, collaborative style that aims to help people make practical changes in their day-to-day lives.

Her work draws on client-centred ideas and solution-focused thinking so sessions tend to be straightforward and goal oriented. She also uses cognitive behavioural tools and hypnotherapy techniques when these fit a person's needs. Barbara aims to help people feel more confident and able to face challenges rather than overwhelmed by them.

Clients come to her with a wide range of concerns including stress, anxiety, depression and trauma. She also supports people dealing with relationship and intimacy-related issues, parenting strains, career decisions and major life changes such as separation or ageing concerns. Additional focuses include attachment and abandonment issues, codependency and communication problems.

In sessions she works to identify unhelpful thoughts and patterns while also listening for the personal story behind them. Practical exercises, reflective conversation and short-term goal setting are used so clients leave with tools they can try between sessions. She encourages realism and self-compassion during that process.

Barbara describes her manner as honest and empathic. Treatment plans are shaped around each person's situation and priorities. She welcomes international clients and conducts work in English.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Barbara commonly uses client-centred work and cognitive behavioural therapy when meeting people online. Client-centred therapy focuses on listening, understanding your perspective and helping you build clarity about what you want to change. It is useful when someone needs time and support to sort through feelings and priorities. Cognitive behavioural therapy looks at thought patterns and behaviours and teaches practical strategies to reduce anxiety, low mood and overwhelm.

She treats choosing an approach as a shared process. The counsellor will talk through options with the client, try techniques, and adjust the plan based on what helps most. That way the work reflects personal goals and day-to-day realities rather than a fixed method.

The original biography does not specify which online session formats are used, so confirm current options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions around work, caregiving or travel and can reduce time spent commuting. It also allows for shorter check-ins or regular weekly sessions to maintain steady progress, depending on what suits the client.