Paula Bantick-Ward, BACP

Paula Bantick-Ward aims to make professional counselling accessible, affordable, and convenient so that individuals and couples facing life’s challenges can get timely support. She works with people who feel overwhelmed, isolated, distressed, or unable to cope, helping them explore their thoughts, emotions, and reactions so they can move forward and create healthier routines and relationships.

As a person-centred counsellor, Paula brings a genuine, non-judgemental stance and uses empathy to understand each client’s experience. Her work is non-directive, giving clients space to find their own voice while she supports them to identify conditions of worth and begin the healing process. Paula listens closely and helps clients make sense of feelings, actions, and patterns so they can develop new ways of coping.

She offers flexible online and telephone sessions and adapts her approach to suit each client. Paula may use creative techniques such as metaphor, creative writing, or journaling alongside methods drawn from cognitive behavioural therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. She’s a registered member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), works under clinical supervision, and is insured to practise.

Therapeutic approaches and online sessions

Paula integrates client-centred principles with structured strategies to support emotional growth. Client-Centred Therapy focuses on providing a compassionate, non-directive environment where the client’s perspective is central; it can be especially helpful for building self-esteem, processing emotions, and navigating life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) offers practical tools to identify and adjust unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours, which can assist with anxiety, low mood, and stress management. Attachment-Based Therapy explores patterns formed in early relationships and how they affect current connections, making it useful for relationship difficulties, intimacy concerns, and patterns of dependency or avoidance.

Finding the right therapeutic approach is part of the process, and Paula works collaboratively with each person to determine what fits their needs, goals, and preferences. Registered professionals and therapists often combine methods, and Paula adapts techniques over time to meet changing needs.

Online therapy via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging offers flexibility for people balancing work, family, or care responsibilities. These options make it easier to access regular support from different locations and allow sessions to be scheduled in ways that suit the client’s life and pace of progress.