Stephen Padfield, NCPS

Stephen Padfield is a counsellor who helps people with stress, anxiety, depression and intimacy-related issues. He works with concerns including grief, addiction, self-esteem, trauma and LGBTQ matters. Stephen is also experienced with ADHD, bipolar difficulties and relationship strain. He aims to create a calm, non-judgemental space where people can talk through what matters to them.

Stephen describes a pluralistic way of working. That means he draws on different methods depending on the person and the problem. Sessions are conversational and focused on practical steps as well as understanding life patterns. He offers mindfulness techniques to help with moments of intense emotion and grounding.

His background includes five years of practice and a Master’s degree in Psychotherapy. He holds NCPS as a credential and has worked with people across a range of concerns from bereavement to gender issues. This combination informs a flexible approach rather than a single prescriptive method.

In sessions he listens for what feels most useful to each person. He can blend cognitive tools to spot unhelpful thinking, skills from dialectical work to manage strong feelings, and existential ideas to look at meaning and life choices. The therapy focuses on what feels achievable for day-to-day life.

Stephen works in the United Kingdom and offers sessions in English. If you are unsure whether he is the right match, the initial steps make it easy to check fit and plan next steps together.

How therapeutic approaches shape online counselling

Stephen commonly uses Client-Centred Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in his work. Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening, acceptance and supporting a person to find their own direction; it helps when someone needs a steady, non-judgemental space to talk things through. CBT looks at how thoughts, feelings and actions interact and offers practical tools to change unhelpful patterns, which can help with anxiety, depression and stress.

Finding the right approach is treated as a shared process. Stephen will discuss goals, preferences and day-to-day needs and tailor the mix of methods accordingly. This collaborative plan can change as progress is made or new priorities come up.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the exact session formats before booking as the biography does not list formats. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy around work, saving travel time and allowing sessions from wherever you are based. It can also let sessions be shorter or use audio only when that fits better with a busy day. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt tools like mindfulness practices and CBT exercises for remote sessions so the work remains practical and focused on everyday life.