Cathleen Brentnall, BACP

Cathleen Brentnall is a counsellor who aims to help people facing relationship strain and feelings of jealousy, alongside other common life challenges. She works in English and draws on ten years of counselling experience to offer practical support for worries about anxiety, low mood, grief, parenting and work stress. Her approach is warm and respectful, and she is open to including faith and prayer in sessions when clients want that element.

Cathleen uses talking therapy to help people identify goals and notice what gets in the way. She encourages clear, small steps and looks at strengths and habits that shape daily life. Sessions may include techniques from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to tackle negative thinking and clarify values.

For people affected by traumatic memories or intense emotional reactions she may draw on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Emotionally-Focused Therapy techniques. These methods aim to reduce distress linked to painful events and to improve how people connect with their own feelings and with others.

Cathleen has a Bachelor-level accreditation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP. She practised previously in the United States and now works in the United Kingdom, bringing a mix of international experience to her work.

Her style is client-centred and collaborative. She adapts conversations to each person’s way of learning and deciding. To begin, people complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions according to the therapist’s availability.

How Cathleen uses therapeutic approaches online

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, asks people to notice unhelpful thoughts and decide what matters most to them. It uses simple exercises to build actions aligned with personal values, which can help with anxiety, low mood and relationship doubt. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, CBT, focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings and behaviours and teaches practical techniques to reduce worry and change behaviour patterns. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, is a method used for distress tied to traumatic memories; it involves guided processing to reduce the intensity of those memories and the reactions they trigger.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Cathleen treats therapy as a collaboration and will talk with clients about what feels most helpful. Together they decide which methods to try, and review progress so the plan can change when needed.

Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into everyday life, for example by avoiding travel and allowing appointments during a lunch break or between errands. Because session formats were not specified in the biography, confirm the available options before booking. Registered and accredited professionals often offer ways of working that suit different routines, and Cathleen will help clients choose how to make therapy fit their daily commitments.