Madeleine Heffernan
Compassionate counsellor for stress and relationships
About Madeleine
Madeleine Heffernan is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom who supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, relationship and family concerns, grief, and addiction. She also helps with intimacy and eating issues, parenting strain, career stress, compassion fatigue and ADHD. Madeleine brings eight years of practice to her work and holds BACP registration.
She prefers to tailor sessions to the person’s needs rather than use a one-size-fits-all method.
Background and approach
Sessions may include listening, talking through past and present patterns, and trying practical tasks between meetings. She encourages clients to build a kinder inner voice and to use small exercises that can help day-to-day. Madeleine draws on psychodynamic ideas to look at how earlier experiences shape current feelings.
She also uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to notice and shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. Mindfulness practices and attachment-based thinking can be used to strengthen coping and relationships. Therapy is collaborative.
Madeleine aims to help people recognise their own strengths and make manageable changes. She offers a mix of conversational work and practical suggestions tailored to each person’s goals. Her communication options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging.
Sessions are arranged around a subscription model that can be cancelled at any time, and she works with clients in English in the United Kingdom.
What Madeleine works with
How Madeleine works
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Listed by Madeleine among the ways they work.
Sessions & fees
Therapeutic approaches suited to online work
Attachment-based work focuses on how early relationships shape current patterns in close connections; it helps people understand trust, intimacy and how they relate to others. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions and offers practical ways to change unhelpful patterns and manage anxiety or low mood. Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people identify and organise emotional experiences to improve how they respond in important relationships and to regulate intense feelings.Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with the client to decide which methods fit best for their needs, goals and preferences. Sessions can mix approaches over time as understanding develops and priorities change.
Online therapy here is available by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging, which makes it easier to fit sessions around work, caregiving or busy days. Phone calls can be useful when bandwidth is limited, messaging suits shorter check-ins or ongoing reflection, and video allows face-to-face conversation when helpful. These options give flexibility so people can choose what works best for them while working through stress, relationships or other concerns with a therapist.
| Session length | Typically 50 minutes |
|---|---|
| Client ages | Adults, 18 and over |
| Fees | Subscription via BetterHelp, cancel anytime |
| Insurance | Not billed directly |
Questions people ask
What concerns does she help with?
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
What background and experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
Which languages are supported and can international clients be seen?
What session formats are available?
How does pricing work?
How do I begin therapy with her?
Areas of focus
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 8 years
- Registered with
- BACP
- Languages
- English
