- Years in practice
- 16
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Relationship issues
- Focus
- Grief
About Paula
Paula Otley is a counsellor with 16 years of experience supporting people through major life challenges. She offers calm, direct support for concerns such as stress, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem and parenting strain. Paula works in English and accepts international clients who want a collaborative approach to change.
She first gained long experience as a bereavement support volunteer. That work shaped her commitment to sit alongside people during hard moments and led her to train as an integrative counsellor.
Background and approach
Her listed credentials include BACP and NCPS, which appear alongside her practical experience. Paula combines person-centred and psychodynamic ideas to build a steady working relationship. She listens for patterns from the past that shape feelings today and helps people notice how they relate to others.
In 2020 she added cognitive behavioural techniques to offer clearer tools for worry, mood and behaviour change. Her background includes work in GP practices, the NHS, community counselling services, charities, independent practice and employee assistance programmes. That range means she is used to practical, everyday pressures as well as deeper emotional concerns.
Sessions are collaborative and paced to each person. Paula emphasises practical steps alongside reflection - you will agree the focus together and work at a comfortable pace. She aims to help people find calmer ways to cope and clearer choices about next steps.
What Paula works with
Everything Paula lists, in their own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Paula helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Self esteem
- Depression
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counselling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Approaches Paula lists
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centred Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each counsellor names and does not check training records.
How Paula’s approaches translate to online therapy
Paula blends attachment-based and client-centred ideas with practical cognitive behavioural techniques. Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current reactions and helps people understand patterns in close relationships. Client-centred work focuses on listening carefully and responding to what matters most to the person in the room. Cognitive behavioural techniques provide simple, practical steps to test thoughts and change unhelpful habits, which can help with anxiety, low mood and parenting stress.Finding the right approach is a shared task. Paula will work with each person to decide which methods suit their goals and preferences. That means sessions can shift between listening, exploring past patterns and practising clearer behaviours as needed.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text messaging to make therapy fit busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and non-verbal cues, phone sessions can be a lighter option when bandwidth is limited, and text-based formats suit shorter check-ins or people who prefer writing. This mix gives flexibility for different schedules and practical constraints and helps therapy continue even when in-person meetings aren’t possible.
Questions people ask about Paula
What kinds of concerns can Paula help with?
She supports people experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and intimacy issues, parenting strain, addictions, ADHD and related concerns listed in her profile.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
She uses a collaborative, person-centred style with psychodynamic listening and cognitive behavioural tools where helpful.
What experience does she bring to sessions?
Paula has 16 years of experience, including long-term bereavement support and roles in GP practice, the NHS, charities and employee assistance programmes.
Which credentials and location are listed?
Her credentials are BACP and NCPS and she is based in the United Kingdom.
Are sessions offered in other languages or internationally?
Sessions are offered in English and she accepts international clients.
What session formats are available?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging to suit different needs.
How does cost work for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions are provided through a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Choose the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule sessions according to therapist availability.
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