Francesca Martin, BACP

Person-centred care and online counselling options

Francesca practises a person-centred approach which puts the client’s experience at the heart of each session. That means the counsellor listens closely, reflects what she hears, and helps people explore their feelings and choices. This approach can be helpful for relationship concerns, low self-esteem, grief and trauma-related issues because it focuses on understanding and self-directed change.

She also draws on her couples counselling qualification when relationship-focused work is needed, helping partners talk through problems and consider different ways of relating. The emphasis is on helping people discover what works for them rather than following a rigid set of techniques.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Francesca will discuss goals and preferences with each person and together they will decide which way of working feels most useful. This collaborative process helps shape sessions that match a client’s needs and pace.

Online therapy offers practical benefits such as greater flexibility and easier scheduling. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from different locations, phone sessions need less bandwidth and can be a shorter check-in, while live chat and text messaging work well for people who prefer written exchanges or want to fit therapy into a busy day. These formats make it easier to maintain continuity of care and to choose what suits each person best.