Madeleine Heffernan

Madeleine Heffernan is a counsellor who helps people facing anger, stress and anxiety. She supports those managing relationship strain, grief, trauma and addiction. Madeleine also works with concerns such as parenting, body image, eating issues and career change. She holds BACP, which denotes membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. Madeleine adapts the therapy to the person rather than offering one fixed method. Sessions can involve listening and gentle questioning to help people make sense of their past and present. She uses practical tasks and observations to try at home when clients want them. Work may include developing a kinder inner voice to reduce self criticism. Her practice draws on psychodynamic ideas to link current problems with earlier experiences. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is used to notice unhelpful thoughts and try different responses. Emotionally-Focused approaches are brought in to work on feelings in relationships and close connections. Mindfulness techniques are offered to build awareness of thoughts and bodily reactions. Madeleine also uses elements aimed at compassion and emotional regulation when these fit a clients goals. She describes therapy as a collaborative process that relies on what the person already knows about their life. Madeleine has eight years experience working with the issues listed. She works from the United Kingdom and conducts sessions in English. Prospective clients choose times and formats by using the service booking process and the therapists available hours.

Approaches used online and how they help

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early bonds shape current relationships. Online work with this approach helps people understand repeated patterns and try different ways of connecting. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and actions and tests practical ways to change them; it suits worries, low mood and anger that involve repetitive thinking. Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people name and shift strong emotions in relationships and close connections and can be useful when anger or hurt keeps repeating.

Choosing the right approach is part of the therapy. Madeleine will talk with each person about goals and preferences and try methods that fit their needs. This is a collaborative process and adjustments can be made as work progresses.

Confirm the session formats before booking since the available options may vary. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, for example by reducing travel time or allowing shorter check-ins during a work break. They also make it possible to access therapy from different locations and to use video, phone or messaging options if these are offered and suitable for the persons needs.