Virginia Bowley, BACP

Counsellor Virginia Bowley is a British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists member with 24 years' experience. She works with stress, anxiety, relationship problems, grief, depression and coping with life changes, among other concerns. She has worked in private practice, further education and with Cruse bereavement care, and accepts international clients while practising in the United Kingdom.

Before moving into counselling full time she trained and worked as a nurse and spent 25 years as a rehabilitation case manager. In that role she supported people who had sustained catastrophic injuries and helped them face major losses and long-term change. That background informs her practical approach to emotional and life challenges.

Virginia draws on Client-Centred Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. In sessions she listens to what matters to the client and works with them to try different ways of thinking and acting that might ease distress. She also uses coaching-style conversations for people who want clearer short-term goals.

She has six years' experience with bereavement from work at Cruse and offers support for end-of-life issues, hospice care concerns and grief after loss. She also works with adoption and foster care issues, attachment concerns, communication problems and caregiver stress.

Virginia keeps monthly supervision and follows the BACP code of ethics. Her background includes college-based counselling and private practice, giving experience of both short-term and longer-term work. Outside work she spends time walking, swimming, cycling and reading.

Therapeutic approaches used in online counselling