Carol Saker, BACP

Carol Saker is a UK-licensed counsellor with four years of professional experience supporting people through anxiety, depression, family conflict, trauma and abuse, grief and loss, neurodiversity and LGBTQ+ issues. She works to create an open, nonjudgemental space where clients can explore difficult thoughts and feelings at their own pace, acknowledging that taking the first step into therapy often requires courage.

Her path into counselling followed a degree in psychology and a decision to pursue therapeutic work rather than clinical psychology. She also volunteered as a counsellor in a school for young people aged 11 to 18, an experience that deepened her understanding of adolescent challenges and the ways young people express distress.

Carol’s core orientation is person-centred counselling, also known as client-centred therapy, which emphasizes listening, empathy and providing space for clients to make sense of their own experience and make choices grounded in self-understanding. In couples work she integrates solution-focused ideas with emotionally focused approaches, dialectical behaviour strategies, transactional analysis and attachment-informed perspectives to help partners deepen their understanding of themselves and each other and to clarify what they want to achieve together.

She holds BACP accreditation, indicating membership of the professional UK body for counsellors and psychotherapists, and blends relational sensitivity with practical tools to support clients across a wide range of life challenges.

Therapeutic approaches adapted for online care

Carol integrates client-centred therapy, emotionally focused therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy into her practice. Client-centred therapy centres on empathic listening and supporting clients to explore their own feelings and choices, which can help with low self-esteem, life changes and general emotional distress. Emotionally focused therapy focuses on identifying and reshaping the emotional patterns that affect relationships, making it useful for couples seeking greater connection and understanding. Dialectical behaviour therapy teaches practical skills for regulating emotions, tolerating distress and improving interpersonal effectiveness, and can be helpful for intense emotional reactions and coping challenges.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Carol works with clients to identify their needs, goals and preferences and adjusts techniques over time so therapy fits the person rather than the other way around. Registered professionals and therapists often combine methods to suit each individual or couple.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can take place by video call or phone, and support can also be provided through live chat or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to attend sessions around work, family or mobility constraints and help maintain continuity of care when in-person meetings are difficult, while still enabling meaningful therapeutic work.