Chris Orton
Person-focused counselling for life and identity issues
About Chris
Chris Orton offers calm, straightforward support for people facing stress, anxiety, low self-esteem or major life changes. He works in a down-to-earth way to help people make sense of upsetting patterns. Conversations are paced by the client, and Chris aims to be a steady, compassionate companion through difficult moments.
He uses a person-focused approach that centres the client's experience. That means listening closely to how someone sees their world and helping them name thoughts and feelings.
Background and approach
Sessions aim to increase self-understanding so people can choose different ways of coping and relating. Chris also draws on existential ideas about meaning and responsibility. This helps when people feel stuck, empty, or uncertain about who they are.
Together they look at sources of distress that come from both inside a person and from wider social pressures. He trained to postgraduate level in counselling and psychotherapy and is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP. Before independent practice he worked in a university counselling service supporting a diverse student group.
People bring many concerns including relationship struggles, grief, trauma and abuse, eating and body image issues, ADHD, career stress, and identity questions such as gender dysphoria or LGBT-related issues. Chris also supports those dealing with communication problems, commitment or abandonment concerns, and fatherhood or blended family stresses.
Sessions are available in English and can be arranged to suit different schedules and time zones for international clients.
What Chris works with
How Chris works
Listed by Chris among the ways they work.
Listed by Chris among the ways they work.
Sessions & fees
Approaches that guide online counselling
Client-Centred Therapy focuses on the person in front of the counsellor. It involves careful listening, reflecting what someone says and helping them find their own solutions. This approach suits people who need more understanding of their feelings and clearer ways to respond.Existential Therapy looks at questions of meaning, responsibility and the choices we make. It can help when someone feels empty, stuck or unsure about identity and purpose. Conversations may explore values, freedom and how to live with uncertainty.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The counsellor will discuss what matters to the client and try different ways of working until something fits. This is a collaborative process where the client's goals and preferences shape the direction of therapy.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video helps keep a face-to-face feel, phone calls suit lower bandwidth or hands-free conversations, and messages or live chat allow short check-ins or written reflection. These options make it easier to fit sessions around work, study and different time zones while keeping continuity of care.
| Session length | Typically 50 minutes |
|---|---|
| Client ages | Adults, 18 and over |
| Fees | Subscription via BetterHelp, cancel anytime |
| Insurance | Not billed directly |
Questions people ask
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Areas of focus
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Registered with
- BACP
- Languages
- English
