Ranka Smith, BACP

Ranka Smith is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with 26 years of experience. She speaks English, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, and supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression and relationship concerns. Ranka aims to make it easier for people to begin difficult conversations and take steps towards change.

She focuses on creating an open, non-judgemental space where thoughts and feelings can be talked through. Sessions are practical and grounded. She helps people identify unhelpful patterns and try new ways of coping that fit everyday life.

Her work draws on a mix of approaches, including attachment-based ideas, cognitive behavioural techniques and client-centred listening. That means she pays attention to current problems, emotional patterns from important relationships, and the person’s own goals and resources. Conversations can cover mood, intimacy, grief, dependency and behaviour patterns linked to addiction or eating issues.

People come to her for a range of difficulties such as compassion fatigue, sleep and eating problems, anger, bipolar mood challenges and life changes like immigration or ageing. She also addresses family of origin issues, codependency and difficulties with communication and boundaries.

Ranka tries to make each session collaborative. She will work with the person’s pace and preferences to set realistic steps. The emphasis is on practical progress and building coping tools that help between sessions.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Attachment-based work focuses on how past and current close relationships shape feelings and expectations. Online conversations can help identify repeating patterns in relationships and soften strong emotional reactions through steady, reflective dialogue. Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. In an online session this often means setting simple experiments or homework to test new coping strategies between meetings. Client-centred therapy places the person's experience at the heart of the work and uses empathic listening to help people find their own answers.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapy. She will discuss goals, preferences and the things that matter to the person. Together they decide which approaches to use and adjust them as work progresses so sessions remain relevant and practical.

Please confirm the exact session formats before booking so you know what is offered. Online therapy can make it easier to fit meetings into a busy life, require less travel and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It can also suit people who prefer spoken conversations without paperwork between sessions. Registered or accredited professionals, including therapists who use these approaches, can adapt tools and exercises to work well in remote appointments.