Lilia Sykes, BACP

Lilia Sykes offers a calm, attentive approach for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, low self‑esteem or life changes. She introduces a warm, person‑centred space where people can speak openly and be heard. Lilia works to help clients build kinder relationships with themselves and others through steady, practical conversation.

She uses a client‑centred foundation, meaning the session follows what matters to the person rather than a fixed plan. Alongside that core style she draws on acceptance and commitment ideas, cognitive behavioural techniques, mindfulness and motivational interviewing to offer practical tools when they are helpful. These are used in a way that suits the individual rather than as rigid rules.

Lilia has eight years of experience and is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP. Her background includes time in independent practice and continued professional development to broaden the range of strategies she can offer. She describes herself as approachable and interested in each person’s unique story.

She welcomes people from diverse cultural backgrounds and is comfortable talking about identity and LGBT issues. Lilia also works with concerns such as grief, trauma, addictions, sleep and eating difficulties, parenting stress, chronic illness, and compassion fatigue. She pays attention to attachment and abandonment themes where they arise.

People can expect sessions paced to their needs, with the option to check in between meetings if that feels useful. Lilia aims to be flexible when scheduling and to adapt techniques to everyday life and goals.

How Lilia adapts approaches for online work

Her work combines client‑centred listening with practical methods. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts while focusing on values and small, committed actions to move forward. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and behaviours and teaches skills to change unhelpful patterns. Mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention and breathing exercises to reduce stress and improve focus.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will listen to what matters to the client, discuss a few suitable techniques, and try options together to see what fits best. That means methods may shift as goals and needs become clearer.

The biography notes a preference for voice calls, with video or live chat available where needed, so please confirm the exact session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions around family, work or medical appointments and can reduce travel time. It also lets the therapist share short exercises and resources between meetings to help progress between sessions.