Ana Carneiro

Weekday evenings, online and in person. I reply within two working days

Hello, I'm Ana, an integrative counsellor working online across the UK and in person in London SW15 and SW6.

People come to counselling for many reasons: a move to a new country or career, the end of a relationship or a role, a family story that keeps resurfacing, or the cost of holding everything together at work and running on empty at home. Whatever brings you, counselling is a place to make sense of it. Change can happen on your own terms and at your own pace, without dismantling the life you've built.

My way of working is relational and person-centred at heart. I draw on psychodynamic and existential thinking and on Gestalt's attention to the body and the present moment. Together we look at what keeps repeating and where it comes from, as well as questions of meaning and choice. The question isn't what's wrong with you, but what happened to you. That work rests on trust between us, which builds from the first sessions.

Before counselling I spent two decades in technical leadership in the energy industry, across Europe, Africa and the Americas. I retrained as a coach and a mentor, then as a counsellor. Since then I've supported people through change in NHS Talking Therapies and at Citizens Advice, Samaritans and a low-cost counselling service. I know change from the inside.

We can work in English, Portuguese or Spanish, so you won't need to translate yourself.

I offer one-to-one counselling for adults in weekly 50-minute sessions on weekday evenings. Counselling is open-ended, so it can be short-term or long-term. Some people come for a handful of sessions to work through something specific. Others stay for months or longer. When you want to look ahead, coaching can become part of the same work, with an action plan we shape together and steps you agree to try between sessions. You don't need to know which you want before we speak. At any review we can change course or plan an ending together.

For online sessions you'll need to be in the UK. I keep a limited number of reduced-fee places, so please ask if cost is a concern.

I work to the BACP Ethical Framework, with regular clinical supervision and professional indemnity insurance. What you share stays confidential within the usual limits, which we go through at the start.

If you're thinking of starting, we begin with a free 20-minute call. You can tell me a little about what's bringing you here and what you hope for. Ask me anything too. If I'm not the right person for what you need, I'll say so and suggest where to look.

If we go ahead, the first session is a full assessment at the usual fee. We look at what's happening now, the story around it and what you'd like to be different. You share only what feels comfortable. Together we agree how we'll work and go through the working agreement.

After that we meet weekly at the same time. We review how it's going around session six, then every 8 to 10 sessions. Payment is by bank transfer at least 24 hours before each session.