Michelle Freeman, BACP
Calm, practical counselling with a somatic focus
About Michelle
Michelle Freeman is a BACP-registered counsellor with 13 years of practice in the United Kingdom. She draws on a broad, person-centred way of working and adapts sessions to what each person needs in the moment. Michelle aims to make the first steps less daunting by offering a calm and straightforward space to talk.
She commonly helps people with stress, anxiety, sleep difficulties and low self-esteem. She also supports those facing trauma and abuse, relationship and intimacy-related problems, eating concerns, anger and the challenges that come with life changes.
Background and approach
Michelle works with LGBT issues and has experience supporting people with ADHD and related struggles. Her approach is integrative. Sessions may include somatic awareness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ideas, cognitive-behavioural techniques and elements of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy alongside a client-centred stance.
The focus is practical - noticing what is happening in the body, thoughts and behaviours, and finding manageable ways to cope. Michelle also offers alternatives to talking therapy when that feels more helpful. She can use creative methods and practical exercises tailored to each person.
Work may be short term to tackle a specific problem or longer term for deeper issues, depending on what the person needs. Sessions are conducted in English and Michelle accepts international clients. She supports people via video calls, phone, live chat and text-based messaging and works with each person to set a comfortable pace.
How different approaches work online
Somatic work helps people notice sensations in the body and link those signals to emotions and memories. Online sessions can use guided awareness and simple movement or breathing exercises to reduce tension and increase bodily safety. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages noticing thoughts and values-based action rather than trying to eliminate difficult feelings, which can suit people coping with anxiety, stress or life changes. Client-Centred Therapy focuses on building a trusting, non-judgemental relationship so the person feels heard and understood; this creates space to explore concerns such as self-esteem, relationships and grief.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals and preferences and then suggest ways of working together. That decision is collaborative and may change as progress is made.
Online therapy offers practical benefits for many people. Video calls let you meet face to face from home, phone sessions remove the need for a screen, and live chat or text-based messaging can be useful for shorter check-ins or if writing feels easier. These options add flexibility and make it simpler to fit therapy around work, family and daily life.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Hypnotherapy
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English