Mary Shiels, BACP

Mary Shiels is a counsellor with three years' experience who offers care for people facing stress, anxiety, trauma and grief. She works with people from the LGBT community and those coping with depression or panic. Mary holds BACP registration, which is recorded as BACP in her credentials. She speaks English and works from the United Kingdom.

Mary uses practical, person-centred approaches in sessions. She draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice difficult thoughts and try small changes. She also uses Attachment-Based and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy ideas when relationships or intense emotions are central to the problem.

Sessions focus on simple, usable skills and on understanding patterns that keep problems going. For someone dealing with grief, trauma or panic, she aims to make things easier to manage day to day. For people within the LGBT community she offers a non-judgemental space to talk about identity and related stressors.

Her background includes work on trauma, bereavement and anxiety and a role as a trainer and TEDx speaker. She has experience supporting people affected by sexual violence and those who are sex workers, and she describes work with issues such as caregiver stress, body image and isolation.

To begin, clients follow the site's Start Therapy steps and complete a short matching questionnaire. Mary accepts international clients and uses a subscription model that can be cancelled at any time.

How Mary’s approaches work online

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. It focuses on choosing actions that match personal values even when feelings are difficult, which can help with anxiety, low mood and life direction.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, looks at links between thoughts, feelings and actions. It uses straightforward exercises and experiments to shift unhelpful thinking and reduce panic or persistent worry.

Attachment-Based ideas are used when relationship patterns or early connections matter. This approach helps people understand recurring patterns and try different ways of relating to themselves and others.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences and what has helped before. That means trying methods together and adjusting as needed rather than following a fixed plan.

Check which session formats are currently offered before booking because the biography does not specify them. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives, for example by avoiding travel, allowing a shorter check-in when needed, or saving time during a work break. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt exercises for a video or phone conversation so everyone can use the tools in everyday life.