Paula Smyton

• Relationships and family
• Stress and anxiety
• Grief and loss

About Paula

Paula Smyton works with stress, anxiety, relationship and family concerns using psychodynamic and integrative approaches. She is a BACP counsellor with around 10 years of experience across counselling services, education, mental health settings and private practice.

Paula often meets people who have been managing on their own for a long time. They may seem to cope outwardly while privately feeling anxious, low in mood, overwhelmed by responsibilities, or struggling with relationship problems and loss. She aims to make it easier to talk about what is causing strain and to begin sorting through complicated feelings.

Her main clinical orientation is psychodynamic therapy, which looks at how past experiences and recurring relationship patterns can affect present feelings and behaviour. She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, client-centred work and solution-focused techniques to respond to what emerges in sessions.

In practice this means Paula will listen to your concerns and help you notice patterns that keep causing difficulty. Sessions can involve talking through recent problems, reflecting on past events that still matter now, and learning practical ways to manage distressing thoughts and strong emotions.

People sometimes come without clear goals and that is welcome. Paula expects the work to be collaborative and gradual, with time to reflect, try out different ways of coping, and decide what feels useful for each person.

How Paula’s therapeutic approaches work online

Psychodynamic therapy helps people look at how past relationships and early experiences can continue to affect feelings and behaviour today; it is useful when recurring patterns and long-standing emotional difficulties are part of the problem. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on noticing difficult thoughts and feelings without being controlled by them, and on clarifying personal values to guide action; it can help with anxiety, low mood and coping with change. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) involves noticing unhelpful thoughts and testing them with practical exercises, often helping with anxiety, sleep problems and low mood.

Finding the right way of working is part of the therapeutic process. Paula will work collaboratively to decide which approaches suit a person’s goals and situation, and may draw on more than one method as the sessions progress.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so check the current options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit counselling into a busy life, for example by saving travel time, allowing a shorter check-in during a lunch break, or offering sessions without being on camera if that feels better. Registered or accredited professionals and therapists often use these practical advantages to help people maintain regular sessions alongside everyday commitments.

Topics Paula lists

• Stress and anxiety
• Relationship issues
• Family conflicts
• Parenting issues
• Depression
• LGBT
• Trauma and abuse
• Grief
• Intimacy-related issues
• Eating disorders
• Sleeping disorders
• Anger management
• Self-esteem
• Career difficulties
• Bipolar disorder
• Coping with life changes

Ways of working

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Client-Centred Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
• Psychodynamic Therapy
• Solution-Focused Therapy

Questions about Paula

Does she work with anxiety?

Yes. Anxiety is listed among her areas of focus and she uses approaches such as CBT and ACT to address it.

What kind of counselling does she offer?

Her core approach is psychodynamic therapy alongside integrative methods including client-centred, solution-focused, CBT, DBT and ACT techniques.

How long has she practised?

She has around 10 years of experience working in counselling services, education, mental health settings and private practice.

Is she a registered counsellor in the UK?

She is listed with BACP, which is the credential supplied in her profile.

Can I have sessions in languages other than English?

Sessions are offered in English according to the information provided.

Does she accept international clients?

Yes. The profile states she accepts international clients.

How much do sessions cost?

Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.

How do I begin working with her?

Use the Talk to a counsellor online button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.