Penelope 'Penny' Grigg, BACP
Somatic-aware counsellor focusing on calm and clarity
About Penelope
Penelope 'Penny' Grigg is a counsellor who blends somatic awareness with talking therapies to help people feel steadier in their lives. She holds membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and has nine years of practical experience. Penny works online and in person from the United Kingdom and communicates in English.
Penny uses a body-focused eye on stress and trauma alongside conversation. She asks simple questions about what people notice in their bodies as well as their thoughts.
Background and approach
This helps when anxiety, panic, exhaustion or compulsive behaviours feel overwhelming. <brHer approach is client-centred and conversational. She draws on cognitive behavioural techniques to spot unhelpful patterns and on existential ideas to look at meaning and choices.
Mindfulness skills are introduced to help people calm and reorient in the moment. Penny has supported people with addiction, trauma and abuse, anxiety and depression, eating and sleeping difficulties, and issues linked to grief and relationship strain. She also works with people facing neurodiversity concerns such as autism and Asperger syndrome, and with those coping with chronic illness or caregiving stress.
Sessions aim to be practical and humane. Penny helps people clarify what they want to change and take small steps towards it. Conversations explore past and present experiences so clients can find more breathing room and clearer choices.
She maintains professional insurance and clinical supervision and follows the ethical framework of the BACP. This underpins how she works with boundaries, honesty and openness in therapy.
How somatic and talking therapies work online
Somatic work pays attention to the body and what it is signalling. Online sessions can still use gentle body awareness - for example noticing breathing, tension or grounding sensations - to help with anxiety, trauma responses and chronic stress. Client-centred therapy focuses on the person and their experience, creating a non-judgemental space to talk about feelings and choices and is useful for relationship strain, self-esteem and life changes.Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, looks at links between thoughts, feelings and behaviour and offers practical strategies to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, depression, sleeping and eating problems and for managing compulsive or addictive behaviours. Penny can draw on these approaches depending on the issue and what the client prefers.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work together. The therapist will help the client identify goals and choose methods that suit their needs, whether that means more body-focused practice, practical CBT tools, or a listening, client-centred space. It is a collaborative process that adapts over time.
Online therapy by video, phone, live chat or text-based messaging offers flexibility for people with busy lives, caregiving duties or mobility limits. These formats make it easier to maintain regular contact, practise techniques between sessions, and fit therapy around daily commitments.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English