Mary Hollow, BACP

Mary Hollow has worked in counselling for 23 years and brings long experience to each meeting. She focuses on practical help for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, depression and big life changes. Mary is registered with the BACP, which is listed as her professional credential.

Her day-to-day style is respectful and down-to-earth. She listens first, then helps people sort out what matters most. Conversations are adapted to each person's needs and pace rather than following a fixed script.

Mary uses Client-Centred Therapy, which means she builds sessions around the client’s own goals and viewpoint. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking and trying new ways of acting. Together these approaches are used to address addictions, trauma and abuse, anger, self-esteem and career stresses.

She also pays attention to related concerns such as communication problems, first responder issues, forgiveness, guilt and shame, life purpose and post-traumatic stress. Social anxiety and phobia, relationship difficulties and cultivating self-love are other areas she helps people work through.

People who prefer a calm, practical conversation that stays focused on steps they can take tend to find her approach helpful. Those seeking an empathetic listener who will also suggest concrete strategies may find a good fit here.

How Mary’s approaches translate to online counselling

Client-Centred Therapy focuses on the person’s own priorities and feelings, offering a warm, listening space where the client leads the conversation. This approach helps when someone needs acceptance, clearer thinking about choices, or steady support through change.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings and actions. It uses straightforward exercises and small experiments to test unhelpful thinking and build different habits. CBT can be useful for anxiety, depression, social anxiety and managing strong emotions.

Choosing the right approach is a joint process. Mary will work with each person to decide which elements to use, and she adapts methods to match goals and preferences. That means sessions can be adjusted over time as needs change.

Online therapy can make it easier to fit counselling into a busy life, for example by reducing travel time or letting someone join from wherever they are that day. It can also support shorter check-ins or a mix of longer sessions and brief follow-ups depending on what works best. Confirm the exact session options available before booking so you know how meetings will be arranged.