Trudie Johnston, BACP, NCPS

Trudie Johnston is a counsellor registered in the United Kingdom who works with adults aged 18 and over. She has six years' experience working in clinical settings and in private practice, and she also volunteered in bereavement support before training as a counsellor. Trudie draws on that background when she supports people through loss, health challenges and difficult life transitions.

Her work commonly covers stress, anxiety and depression as well as relationship and family concerns. She also helps people facing chronic illness, cancer, caregiving strain, chronic pain and end-of-life issues. Other areas she supports include self-esteem, attachment wounds, grief, anger and body image worries.

Trudie uses a mix of approaches so sessions are shaped to each person. She began with person-centred counselling and now includes attachment-informed ideas, cognitive behavioural techniques and some psychodynamic thinking. She also integrates mindfulness and somatic elements when these suit the person’s needs.

In sessions she aims to build an open, non-judgemental space where thoughts and feelings can be talked through. She understands how daunting that first step can be because she has experienced counselling herself, and she emphasises a gentle, steady pace for new clients.

If someone wants practical tools alongside reflective conversation, she works collaboratively to set goals and try approaches that feel manageable. She encourages people to bring whatever matters most to them, whether big or small, and to move at a pace they can tolerate.

How these approaches work in online counselling

Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current ways of connecting and reacting. Online sessions can be used to notice patterns in relationships and to practise different responses in the safety of a regular appointment. Client-centred therapy focuses on listening and helping a person find their own answers; online meetings can provide steady, regular time to reflect and be heard. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and actions and tries practical experiments to change them; this approach can produce short-term tools to manage anxiety, low mood and stress.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences and choose methods together so sessions fit what the person needs. That collaborative planning helps make sessions useful from early on.

Session formats are not specified here, so please confirm current options before booking. In general, online work can make it easier to fit counselling around daily life because it avoids travel and can be scheduled at convenient times. It also lets someone choose quieter surroundings, use shorter check-ins when time is tight, or avoid being on camera if that helps them engage better.