Michael Purvis, BACP

Michael Purvis offers practical, compassionate counselling for people struggling with anxiety, low mood and relationship difficulties. He approaches therapy as a space for processing painful experiences, exploring the thoughts and behaviours that follow, and rebuilding a clearer sense of self. Michael works with a wide range of anxiety-related difficulties including obsessive compulsive patterns, stress and burnout, panic attacks, phobias and challenges around socialising or forming close relationships.

He also supports people coping with anger management, loss of purpose after retirement, redundancy or long-term illness, and those affected by occupational trauma. Low mood or depression that appears alongside these concerns is a frequent focus of his work. In addition to symptom-focused support, Michael assists clients in setting and achieving practical goals across life areas such as business, career development, health and wellbeing, relationships and work-life balance.

Michael is a BACP member, which indicates affiliation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and he practises from the United Kingdom. He draws on evidence-informed approaches to tailor sessions to each person's needs, helping clients find manageable steps forward and greater clarity about their priorities.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Support

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, often called ACT, helps people accept difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to actions that reflect their values. It can be helpful for anxiety, stress, and feeling stuck by encouraging flexible responses rather than avoidance.

Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early caregiving and close relationships shape current patterns of relating and emotional responses. It is useful for people who struggle with trust, intimacy, abandonment concerns, or repeating unhelpful relationship dynamics.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that maintain problems like panic, phobias, low mood and stress. It offers practical strategies and experiments that can reduce symptoms and improve day-to-day functioning.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Michael works collaboratively with clients to explore which methods fit their needs, goals and personal preferences, and adapts the work as those needs change over time.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions by video or phone, as well as live chat and text-based messaging, make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules or to continue work when in-person meetings are impractical. For many people, these options increase accessibility and make consistent progress more achievable with a registered professional.