Sharon Lenihan, BACP

Sharon Lenihan is a counsellor with five years' experience, including work with a Sexual Survivors Trust since 2021. She offers a calm, accepting space where people can be heard and believed as they begin to talk about painful or confusing experiences.

Her style is warm and collaborative. She adapts her way of working to suit each person rather than asking them to fit a single model. Sessions move at the client's pace and aim to build a steady, practical rhythm of support.

Sharon draws on person-centred ideas, cognitive behavioural techniques, psychodynamic perspectives, and mindfulness-based practices. These are used flexibly to help people process past events, manage difficult feelings, and develop clearer ways of coping with everyday pressures.

Before training as a counsellor she worked for many years in safeguarding roles. That background involved supporting people through crisis, risk, and complex systems, and means she is used to holding sensitive material with care.

People commonly come to her for support with anxiety, stress, depression, trauma and abuse, relationship concerns, self-esteem, grief, eating and sleeping difficulties, parenting strain, anger, career changes, compassion fatigue and ADHD. Sharon aims to offer practical tools alongside a compassionate listening approach to help people find firmer footing.

Therapeutic approaches and what online therapy can offer

Sharon uses a mix of evidence-based techniques to suit each person's needs. Person-centred work focuses on listening and building a trusting relationship so people feel understood and able to explore difficult topics. Cognitive behavioural techniques help identify unhelpful thinking and introduce practical strategies to reduce anxiety, low mood or sleep disruption. Mindfulness-based practices are used to develop awareness of the body and breath, which can help calm strong emotions and improve day-to-day coping.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Sharon will discuss options with each person and agree what to try based on their goals, preferences and what feels manageable. This collaborative process means the plan can change if something does not fit.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit counselling into a busy life, for example by cutting travel time, allowing shorter check-ins during a lunch break, or offering a session when leaving the house is difficult. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt methods used in person, and many people find therapy via remote sessions helps them keep continuity while they work on coping skills and processing difficult experiences.