Douglas Barbieri, BACP

Douglas Barbieri offers practical support to people feeling overwhelmed by stressful life events or ongoing health challenges. He writes in a calm, straightforward way and aims to help clients untangle what feels unmanageable. Douglas uses plain talk to help people understand their emotions and to find ways to make different choices in daily life.

He draws on six years of professional experience and works from approaches such as client-centred listening and cognitive behavioural strategies. Sessions focus on making thoughts and feelings easier to understand and on spotting patterns that keep problems going. Douglas encourages small changes that can reduce anxiety, lift low mood, and improve self-worth.

People come to him for a range of concerns from grief and trauma to chronic pain, addiction and relationship difficulties. He also supports those dealing with body image, abandonment, and the strain of illness or disability. The aim is to look at what is getting in the way now and to try practical steps forward.

In sessions Douglas helps clients increase self-awareness and accept difficult emotions without harsh judgement. He invites open conversation about recurring thoughts, behaviours and identity so clients can make choices with more clarity. This includes exploring how past experiences shape current reactions.

Douglas offers therapy in English and Portuguese and works with people across the United Kingdom and internationally. He asks people to begin by completing a short matching questionnaire, so he can better understand their needs before they schedule sessions.

How these approaches work online

Client-centred work means the therapist listens closely and follows what matters most to the person. Online sessions use that same listening to build understanding, help people name feelings and decide what to try next. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing small changes in behaviour. Online CBT commonly uses short exercises between sessions to practise new ways of thinking and acting. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) zooms in on emotions in relationships and helps people attend to their needs and responses more clearly. This can help with grief, attachment issues, and patterns that repeat in close connections.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Douglas will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and then try approaches that suit those aims. He takes a collaborative stance, reviewing progress and adjusting methods so the therapy fits the individual rather than forcing a single method.

Confirm available session formats before booking so you know how he currently meets with people. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into busy lives, reduce travel time, and allow quieter check-ins during a lunch break or between appointments. It also offers ways to use written exercises and short practical tasks that can be done between meetings to help make steady progress.