Paula Smyton
Calm psychodynamic counsellor for life’s difficult moments
About Paula
Paula Smyton is a UK counsellor with ten years of experience in counselling services, education, mental health settings and independent practice. She holds BACP accreditation and works from a psychodynamic and integrative perspective.
Paula aims to make the first step into therapy as straightforward as possible for people who are anxious, low in mood, or finding relationships and daily life hard to manage. Paula often meets people who look like they are coping on the outside while feeling exhausted inside.
Background and approach
She supports those struggling with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and relationship tensions. She also helps with parenting strain, issues around intimacy, eating and sleeping difficulties, anger, self-esteem, career worries and coping with life changes. Her approach begins with listening.
Paula offers a warm and thoughtful space where clients can talk through what feels overwhelming without pressure to have answers. She uses psychodynamic work to look at how early experiences and relationship patterns influence present feelings and behaviour. Alongside psychodynamic ideas Paula draws on person-centred and solution-focused methods and evidence-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
This lets sessions be practical when needed and reflective when that is more helpful. Paula works collaboratively to build clarity about recurring patterns and emotional responses. She supports people to name what matters to them, to try different ways of coping, and to make gradual changes that fit their life.
If someone is unsure where to start, Paula helps them take the next small step.
What Paula works with
How Paula works
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Listed by Paula among the ways they work.
Sessions & fees
How Paula’s approaches translate to online therapy
Psychodynamic therapy looks at how past relationships and early experiences shape current feelings and behaviour. In online sessions this often involves talking through recurring patterns and moments that feel familiar, helping people understand why they react as they do.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. It focuses on what matters to the person and on small steps to act in line with those values, which can suit worries, low mood and life changes.
Paula treats finding the right approach as a collaborative process. She will discuss different ways of working and agree together whether more reflective psychodynamic work or practical ACT or CBT strategies are best for the current goals. That choice can change over time as needs shift.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video calls support face-to-face conversation, phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited, live chat is useful for paced check-ins, and messaging can fit short daily reflections. These options help people fit therapy around work, family and travel commitments while keeping the focus on progress.
| 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
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Registered with
- BACP
- Languages
- English
