Gillian Cooper, BACP

Gillian Cooper is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom who helps people facing midlife changes, stress and relationship strain. She works with adults on everyday problems like anxiety, grief, eating and sleeping changes, addictions and self-esteem. Gillian uses clear, practical conversation to help people find ways forward when life feels overwhelming.

She blends shorter-term counselling with longer-term therapy depending on what someone needs. In counselling she focuses on the present and uses solution-focused techniques to tackle day-to-day difficulties. In longer therapy she looks at earlier life experiences to understand how they affect current choices and feelings.

Over nine years Gillian has worked in a range of settings including mental health services, bereavement support in hospitals, a trauma organisation for women and young people, and with voluntary sector organisations such as MIND UK. She has also tutored on counselling courses up to Level 4 and supported learners with career and confidence goals.

Her approaches draw on attachment-based ideas, client-centred practice, cognitive behavioural techniques, Jungian perspectives and psychodynamic thinking. She can incorporate Christian values and Biblical principles into sessions when clients request this, while respecting different backgrounds and beliefs.

Gillian describes therapy as a collaborative process. She aims to treat each person as the main concern in sessions, to personalise her work, and to build practical plans and roadmaps for change together.

How Gillian’s approaches translate to online therapy

Gillian uses client-centred practice and attachment-based ideas to help people feel heard and understood. Client-centred work focuses on the person’s experience, offering empathy and non-judgemental listening to help clarify what matters most. Attachment-based approaches look at how early relationships shape current patterns, which can help when dealing with intimacy or trust issues.

She also uses cognitive behavioural techniques to help people test unhelpful thoughts and try practical changes. CBT-style work is useful for anxiety, low mood and problems like sleep or eating changes because it gives clear steps people can practise between sessions.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, preferences and life circumstances and then agree a way forward. That agreement is reviewed as progress unfolds so methods can shift if needed.

The biography does not list specific online formats, so please check which session types are currently offered before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time and allow shorter or more flexible check-ins when needed. It can also let people engage with therapeutic tasks and worksheets between meetings, helping to apply changes in day-to-day life.