About James
James Vanstone is a counsellor with 21 years' experience who helps people struggling with stress, anxiety, grief and relationship difficulties. He offers straightforward support for low self-esteem, motivation problems and coping with major life changes. He also works with people affected by trauma, abuse, bullying and victimisation, and supports those dealing with career strain, compassion fatigue and ADHD-related concerns.
He draws on somatic ideas to help people notice how their body responds to stress and emotion.
Background and approach
He also uses attachment-based and client-centred approaches to build a warm, respectful space where people can speak openly. Cognitive behavioural techniques and emotionally-focused methods are available to address thoughts, patterns and relationship interactions. In sessions he aims to build rapport quickly and to teach simple, practical tools.
Those tools are intended to be used outside sessions to support day-to-day changes in mood, confidence and coping. He emphasises clear, manageable strategies rather than complex jargon. James is registered with BACP and NCPS, and works from the United Kingdom.
He accepts international clients and offers a range of online session formats to suit different needs. Language of work is English. People looking for help with intimacy-related issues, parenting stress, attachment concerns or bereavement often seek his support.
He also helps clients address longstanding patterns such as avoidance, control issues, dissociation and the effects of separation or domestic violence.
How his approaches work online and in the body
James uses somatic-informed work to help people notice and name physical reactions linked to stress and emotion. This can involve simple awareness exercises that show how tension, breath or posture relate to feelings, which can be useful for anxiety, trauma reactions and stress management.Attachment-based work looks at how early and current relationship patterns affect trust and closeness. It helps people understand why they respond in certain ways with partners or close others and can be useful for intimacy issues and attachment-related concerns.
Client-centred counselling provides a respectful, non-judgemental space where the client’s experience leads the pace and topics of therapy. This approach supports self-exploration and helps people feel heard while other techniques are introduced.
Finding the right mix of methods is part of the journey. The therapist will collaborate with the client to agree what feels most helpful, adjusting techniques as goals and preferences become clearer.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to give more flexibility. These formats make it easier to fit sessions around work, family and travel, and to continue support when attending in person is difficult. The range of options also allows people to try different ways of working and choose what feels most comfortable.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English