Joanne Bruce, BACP

Joanne Bruce creates a warm, empowering space where adults and young people can feel seen, supported, and encouraged to move through life’s challenges with renewed purpose. She combines clinical training with lived experience as a single mother of three and a life shaped by living and working in America, Switzerland, England, and Egypt. Her background in education, sport, and counselling has informed a conviction that people can grow through adversity and find new direction no matter what has happened.

Having represented her country in athletics as a teenager and later facing the loss of that athletic identity through injury, Joanne developed a practical understanding of resilience and rebuilding. She has rowed at national level and cycled through the Alpes, experiences she uses to illustrate how strength often emerges from embracing both highs and lows. Now at 51, she combines a passion for helping others with a lifelong interest in movement and personal growth.

Joanne’s formal training is in person-centred counselling, and she integrates other approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, and solution-focused techniques to tailor support to each person’s needs. She holds Foundation Degrees in Counselling Studies and in Early Childhood Studies and Practice, plus a Bachelor’s Degree in Education Studies, and she is a member of the BACP - the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, a recognised professional body for counsellors in the United Kingdom.

Clients find her approach warm, grounded, and deeply human, and she brings empathy, humour, and practical insight to every session. She supports people seeking clarity, purpose, and peace across issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and family difficulties, parenting, ADHD and autism, grief, intimacy and sexual concerns, self-esteem, anger and emotional regulation, eating and sleeping problems, compassion fatigue, and coping with life changes. In the first assessment Joanne and the client decide together which methods will best meet their goals, creating a collaborative plan for therapy that fits the individual’s situation.

Approaches that guide online therapy and support

Joanne draws on person-centred therapy to create a respectful, non-judgemental space where clients lead the conversation and the therapist follows their experience. This approach helps people reconnect with their own values and find direction when they feel stuck.

She also uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to explore how thoughts, feelings, and behaviours interact. CBT offers practical tools for addressing anxiety, low mood, and patterns that maintain distress, helping clients develop specific strategies for change.

Motivational Interviewing is another method Joanne employs when people feel ambivalent about change. It focuses on strengthening motivation and clarifying personal goals, which can be especially useful for issues like coaching, health-related behaviour, or stages of transition.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Joanne works collaboratively with each client to identify methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences, and she will adjust the plan as the work evolves.

Online sessions - by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging - offer practical flexibility. They make it easier to fit therapy around work, family, or mobility constraints and allow Joanne to support people across different locations. For many clients, remote options increase access to consistent, ongoing care while still allowing a personal, professional therapeutic relationship.