Claire Purkess
Calm, practical support after trauma and loss
About Claire
Claire Purkess began her counselling path through volunteering. She gained early experience with Childline and more recently with Nexus, supporting people affected by sexual trauma and domestic abuse. Claire holds BACP, which she uses to guide her practice.
She offers a calm and encouraging approach with warmth and steady support. Claire works in an integrative way, drawing on several evidence-based techniques and adapting them to each person's needs. In sessions she focuses on listening first, and then helping people find practical ways to cope with stress, anxiety and big life changes.
Background and approach
She also works with grief, self-esteem and the effects of trauma and abuse. Her style is down-to-earth and steady. Claire aims to make the room feel manageable when emotions are raw.
She helps people build small, realistic steps for feeling safer and more in control between sessions. Claire uses short-term and longer-term ways of working depending on what a person needs. She supports people to notice patterns that cause distress and to learn new ways of responding over time.
The pace is set by the person in front of her. Sessions can include talking, practical coping strategies and reflective exercises. Claire helps people pull together what has been discussed into clear next steps.
Her goal is to leave people feeling understood and with tools they can use day to day.
What Claire works with
Sessions & fees
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Claire practises integrative methods, combining different evidence-based therapeutic techniques to suit each person. Integrative counselling pulls together helpful elements from several approaches so the work can focus on immediate coping skills as well as longer-term change. This can help with stress, anxiety, grief and the impact of trauma.She also draws on trauma-informed ways of working. That means sessions are paced to the person and pay attention to safety, grounding and managing strong emotions. These steps help people feel steadier when talking about painful experiences and learning new responses.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Claire will discuss options with each person and choose methods based on their needs, goals and preferences. This is a collaborative process and the plan can change as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video calls let people use visual cues, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can suit brief check-ins and messaging supports ongoing reflection between meetings. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, family and daily life.
| 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
Also listed
- Experience
- 3 years
- Registered with
- BACP
- Languages
- English
