Alan Cox, BACP

Counsellor Alan Cox is a BACP member with 13 years' experience. He works with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and grief issues among other concerns. He also supports people dealing with addictions, trauma, eating and sleeping problems, parenting strain, career questions and ADHD. Sessions are offered in English and he accepts international clients.

Alan began counselling in 2008 in the voluntary sector and set up a private practice in 2012 after completing a BA (Hons) in Counselling and an earlier Foundation Degree in Counselling. He continues to provide supervision in the bereavement voluntary sector. Prior work in coaching, training and people development informs his practice and his understanding of workplace pressures.

He describes having personal experience of therapy, and uses that perspective when meeting people. He listens and reflects back what he hears, then works with the person to clarify issues and options. He will draw on different therapeutic models to help people understand the causes of their difficulty rather than only the immediate symptoms.

Alan aims to look at practical factors that feed into a problem and keep it going. That can include life events such as divorce, redundancy or moves, and longer standing patterns such as communication problems, isolation or avoidant behaviours. Sessions combine conversation with structured approaches when appropriate.

People can expect straightforward discussion about what is troubling them, some exploration of underlying patterns, and practical ideas to try between sessions. He frames counselling as a way of helping people make decisions for themselves and to find different ways of coping.

How his approaches work in online counselling