Rachel Challans, BACP
Somatic-informed counsellor focusing on relationships and stress
About Rachel
Rachel Challans is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with three years of practice. She works with people who are facing stress, anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties. Rachel values each person as the expert on their own life and looks for strengths to build on.
She offers a calm, grounded presence and aims to make sessions feel practical and straightforward. Rachel uses body-aware methods alongside talking therapy to help people notice how stress and trauma show up in the body.
Background and approach
She also draws on attachment‑based ideas to look at patterns in close relationships and how they affect current struggles. Sessions follow the client’s pace and priorities. Rachel focuses on clear goals such as lowering day-to-day anxiety, improving communication, or working through painful memories.
She pays attention to how emotions appear in the body and in relationships when deciding what to do next. Her work includes support for people dealing with addiction, grief, parenting stress, body image and sexual identity concerns. Rachel also helps with issues such as ADHD, bipolar and the effects of early abandonment or adoption experiences.
She supports people navigating life changes and rebuilding confidence. People can expect a practical, compassionate style that combines noticing bodily sensations with talking about experience. Rachel encourages small, manageable steps so change feels achievable rather than overwhelming.
How somatic and attachment approaches work online
Rachel uses Somatic Therapy to help people notice how stress and trauma show up in the body, such as tension, breath changes or restlessness, and links those bodily signals to thoughts and feelings. This approach can help with anxiety, trauma responses and patterns that feel stuck in the body.She also draws on Attachment‑Based Therapy to look at how early relationship patterns influence current connections and coping styles, which can be useful for people struggling with communication, intimacy or commitment concerns. Client‑centred values guide sessions so the person’s goals remain central.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will listen to your concerns, try different methods gently, and adapt based on what feels most helpful. Decisions about focus and pacing are made together, matching techniques to your goals and comfort.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text messaging. These formats make it easier to fit therapy around work, family life and differing energy levels, while also allowing continued support when travel or location would otherwise be a barrier.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English