Dorcas Upshall, BACP

Dorcas Upshall is a counsellor with three years' clinical experience and a BACP registration. She centres sessions on each person's goals and works alongside them to make sense of what feels difficult right now. Dorcas writes plainly and aims to help people become more emotionally confident and capable. She invites clients to look at thought patterns and behaviours that get in the way. Conversations often focus on practical ways to change habits and manage stress, anxiety, mood, or addictive behaviours. Dorcas also helps people process painful past experiences and grief in small, manageable steps. Her background includes work in domestic abuse services, women’s centres, pastoral care in schools, LGBTQ+ charities, and addiction and recovery settings. She has experience with kink-aware practice and supporting people in a variety of relationship structures. Her past roles also covered adult and young person special needs provisions and over ten years as a teacher. Dorcas uses approaches that keep the person central. She combines client-centred listening with techniques from cognitive behavioural work and system-focused perspectives to help clients notice patterns and try different ways of responding. She aims to make sessions practical and grounded. People who come to Dorcas often want focus on relationships, identity, eating or body image, addiction, or coping with life changes. She also supports those dealing with stress, compassion fatigue, ADHD-related concerns, and questions about intimacy and sexual culture. Sessions are offered in English and she accepts international clients.

Therapeutic approaches and online support

Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening and responding to each person's experience with warmth and acceptance; it helps when someone needs a clear space to work out personal goals and identity questions. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings and behaviours connect and offers practical steps to change patterns that contribute to anxiety, low mood or unhelpful habits. Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps people notice different parts of themselves and how they relate, which can be useful for trauma, shame, or persistent internal conflict.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will treat this as a collaborative process and check in about what feels helpful. Together they will decide which methods to try based on the client's goals, preferences and what comes up in early sessions.

The original biography does not list specific session formats, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, for example by reducing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins during a lunch break, or offering a quieter alternative when leaving the house is difficult. Many people find that routine, regular sessions delivered remotely help maintain momentum and practice new ways of responding between meetings.