Zahira Virani, BACP
Compassionate counsellor for relationship and parenting challenges
Book with Zahira- Years in practice
- 6
- Registration
- BACP
- Languages
- English, Gujarati
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Relationship issues
- Focus
- Family conflicts
About Zahira
Zahira Virani is a counsellor who draws on humanistic and relational approaches to help people facing difficult life moments. She brings a calm, empathic manner and aims to create a space where strong feelings can be shared and understood. Zahira works in English and Gujarati and practices from the United Kingdom with six years of documented counselling experience under the BACP credential.
Her approach blends attachment-based thinking with client-centred work and practical strategies from cognitive behavioural therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy.
Background and approach
This mix is chosen with each person in mind so sessions match their needs. Zahira uses emotion-focused ideas when relationships, grief or intimacy issues are central concerns. She supports people with a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, depression, parenting challenges, relationship strain, addiction and trauma.
Additional focus areas include body image, caregiving stress, blended family issues, adoption and foster care matters, and commitment or attachment difficulties. Sessions can include reflective conversation, noticing patterns of thought and behaviour, skill-building for managing mood or stress, and practical planning for life changes.
Zahira describes her style as warm and encouraging, aiming to help people find more effective ways of coping and relating. People interested in working with Zahira choose a session format that suits them and progress is reviewed collaboratively. Her background in family and youth work informs how she adapts sessions to individual goals and practical life demands.
What Zahira works with
Everything Zahira lists, in their own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Zahira helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Parenting issues
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- 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
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counselling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Zahira lists
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centred Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each counsellor names and does not check training records.
How relational and practical approaches work online
Attachment-based work focuses on how early relationships shape current bonds and emotional responses. Online sessions can use this lens to look at patterns in close relationships and to practise new ways of connecting and responding.Client-centred counselling places the person and their experience at the heart of sessions. It involves empathic listening, reflection and helping people find their own answers, which suits both conversation-based video calls and ongoing text exchanges.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) offers short-term tools for identifying unhelpful thoughts and trying new behaviours. It often includes exercises between sessions that can be shared by message or reviewed on a video call.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences and what feels most useful, and then adapt methods collaboratively as therapy progresses.
Online sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat or text messaging to fit different needs. Video is helpful for face-to-face conversation, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat or messaging suit quick check-ins or brief reflections, and text threads allow ongoing notes between appointments. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, family and daily life while using the chosen therapeutic methods.
Questions people ask about Zahira
What concerns does Zahira commonly help with?
She supports people with stress, anxiety, depression, parenting issues, relationship and intimacy concerns, grief, addiction and trauma among other matters.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her work is warm and client-centred, combining attachment-based thinking with practical CBT and DBT skills where useful.
What is her professional background?
She has six years of documented counselling experience and a background in family and youth work that shapes her approach.
Which credential and location are listed?
Her credential is BACP and she practises in the United Kingdom.
Which languages are offered for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Gujarati.
What session formats are available?
She meets people via video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text-based messaging.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a session according to therapist availability.
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