Dorcas Upshall, BACP

Dorcas Upshall offers a collaborative, goal-focused approach that helps people better understand themselves and the challenges they face. She works alongside clients to identify thought patterns, behaviours, and past experiences that might be holding them back, and supports them in developing practical tools to become more emotionally confident and capable. Dorcas places the client’s goals at the centre of each session, guiding exploration of topics such as work stress, family pressures, anxiety, and major life transitions in a respectful and nonjudgmental way.

Her professional background includes work in domestic abuse services, women’s centres, pastoral care in schools, LGBTQ+ charities, and addiction and recovery settings. She is kink-aware and comfortable working with people in a variety of relationship structures, and she has experience supporting both adults and young people, having taught for over 10 years in special needs and mainstream contexts. In each role she has learned from the resilience and diversity of the people she has supported.

Dorcas holds the BACP credential - the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - which indicates affiliation with a professional body for counsellors and psychotherapists in the United Kingdom. Her practice aims to create a trusting therapeutic relationship where clients can explore, process, and move toward greater authenticity and wellbeing.

Therapeutic Approaches and Remote Support

Dorcas integrates Client-Centered work and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to tailor online sessions to each person’s needs. Client-Centered therapy focuses on creating an empathic, nonjudgmental space where clients lead the conversation and cultivate greater self-understanding - it is helpful for issues like low self-esteem, relationship concerns, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) involves identifying and adjusting unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours, offering practical strategies for anxiety, stress, mood difficulties, and coping with change.

Choosing the right approach is part of the therapeutic process and is decided collaboratively. Dorcas will work with each client to explore goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, adapting methods as progress unfolds so that therapy remains aligned with the client’s needs.

Online work is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility and accessibility. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives, connect across distances, and maintain continuity of care when schedules or circumstances change. Registered professionals, including Dorcas, use these formats to support meaningful therapeutic work outside a traditional office setting.