Debbie Cooley

Debbie Cooley is a counsellor who blends psychotherapeutic and creative approaches to support people through difficult life events. She has five years of experience and works with issues such as addiction, trauma, grief, and loss. Debbie aims to create a respectful and inclusive space where people can talk honestly about what hurts and what matters to them.

Her practice often focuses on bereavement and hospice and end-of-life counselling alongside trauma, domestic abuse, and substance misuse. She also helps with anxiety, depression, panic, self-harm, and the strain that loss can place on daily life. People who are wrestling with guilt, shame, or the impact of narcissistic or sexual abuse may also find this approach useful.

Debbie uses a mix of methods rather than one fixed technique. She draws on attachment-based ideas, client-centred listening, cognitive behavioural techniques, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing to fit each person’s needs. Sessions can include reflective dialogue, practical tools, and sometimes creative exercises to open new ways of understanding problems.

She has experience supporting people from LGBTQ+ communities and aims to offer a sensitive environment for identity and sexuality-related concerns. Her style is collaborative - she works alongside people rather than telling them what to do.

To begin, she asks clients to share what they want to change or understand. That helps shape sessions so they focus on achievable steps, new coping skills, and clearer thinking about what matters next.

Approaches that guide online counselling

Debbie uses client-centred listening to make space for a person's story, offering non-judgemental attention and reflective responses that help people clarify what matters to them. This approach suits grief, identity questions, and issues where being heard is a first step.

She also draws on cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT to help identify unhelpful thinking and try small behavioural experiments. CBT can be useful for panic, anxiety, and practical coping around addiction or low mood.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, needs, and preferences, then adapt techniques from different methods. That collaboration helps choose whether more reflective, practical, or skills-based work will be most useful.

The biography does not list specific online session formats, so please confirm current options before booking. In general, online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It can also let people use mindfulness exercises or CBT worksheets together in the session and follow up between meetings as required.