Trudie Johnston, BACP, NCPS

Trudie Johnston is a UK-registered counsellor with six years of professional experience. She works with adults and aims to make starting therapy less daunting. Trudie trained initially in person-centred counselling and built on that with further study in attachment, cognitive and psychodynamic approaches. Her path into counselling began with bereavement support volunteering, which led her to train and practise as a counsellor. She has worked in both independent practice and clinical settings, supporting people through grief, health-related issues, and life transitions. Trudie commonly helps people facing anxiety, stress, low self-esteem, and depression. She also supports those coping with relationship difficulties, intimacy-related worries, anger, career concerns and the effects of trauma and abuse. Additional areas she addresses include abandonment, attachment issues, body image, chronic illness and caregiving stress. In sessions she draws on multiple approaches and adapts them to what each person needs. That might mean using cognitive behavioural techniques to challenge unhelpful thinking, or an attachment-informed conversation to look at relationship patterns. She also uses mindfulness and somatic ideas to help people notice how thoughts and bodies interact. She aims to create an open, non-judgemental space where feelings can be talked through. Trudie says she understands how hard the first step can be, having experienced counselling herself, and she focuses on practical, steady support as people find their way forward.

How her approaches translate to online counselling

Attachment-based work focuses on how past relationship patterns shape feelings and reactions today, helping people understand why they relate to others in certain ways. Client-centred counselling prioritises the person’s own experience, giving space for thoughts and feelings to be heard without judgement. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) looks at links between thoughts, feelings and actions and introduces practical exercises to change unhelpful patterns. Finding the right approach is often part of the first few sessions. The therapist will work with each person to decide which combination of methods fits their needs, goals and preferences. This is a collaborative process that can change as therapy progresses. If you are considering online work, check the current session options before booking to confirm what formats are offered. Many people find online sessions help fit therapy around daily life, for example by avoiding travel, making it easier to fit a session into a work break, or by choosing ways of meeting that suit energy levels and concentration. Talk with the therapist about practical arrangements so sessions feel manageable and helpful.