Jacintha Canary, BACP

Jacintha Canary brings 25 years of work in counselling and mental health to her practice in the United Kingdom. She is a BACP counsellor and describes herself as a South African who now lives in the UK. Her faith is important to her, but she says she works with people from any faith or none. She aims to help people move towards a balanced, more manageable life.

She uses a person-centred style that puts the client at the heart of the conversation. Jacintha does not give answers; she listens and helps people discover what matters to them. She also draws on a framework called QSL, which combines body awareness and reflective exercises to support self-exploration and recovery from past or present trauma.

Her practice covers a wide range of concerns, including stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, self-esteem, relationship and intimacy difficulties, eating and body-image issues, parenting strains, and compassion fatigue. Additional focus areas listed include abandonment, adoption and foster care, caregiving stress, attachment issues and domestic violence among others.

Jacintha’s background includes a Postgraduate Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling, primary teaching and sports (basketball) qualifications, a Certificate in the QSL framework, and community leadership credentials. She has also completed courses in resilience, conflict resolution, anger work and mentoring.

Sessions are offered in English and Afrikaans, and she accepts international clients. To begin, the site asks you to use the Start Therapy button and complete a short matching questionnaire before scheduling according to therapist availability.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Jacintha uses person-centred work that focuses on listening and supporting people to find their own way forward. This approach helps when someone needs time to talk through feelings, clarify values, or decide on next steps. Mindfulness and body-aware practices she uses invite simple exercises that increase awareness of sensations and emotions, which can be useful for stress, anxiety and trauma-related recovery.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. She will talk with each person about their needs, goals and preferences and agree a way of working together. That collaborative discussion helps choose which methods to use and how to pace sessions to fit what the client wants to achieve.

If you plan to meet online, please confirm the available session formats before booking since the biography does not list them. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions around daily life, reduce travel time and allow check-ins from wherever you are based. Some approaches, such as short solution-focused conversations or mindfulness exercises, adapt well to remote sessions, while trauma-focused and body-aware work can be introduced gently and adjusted to the person's comfort. Registered or accredited professionals tailor the work to make sessions practical and relevant to each person's situation.