Karen Bell, BACP
18 years in practice
Karen Bell is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with 18 years of experience.
License and registration
- BACP
- 401329 · expires May 2026
- Years in practice
- 18
- Languages
- English
Details are as listed on the therapist's public professional profile. You can check the registration with the body that granted it.
About Karen
Karen Bell is a counsellor based in the United Kingdom with 18 years of experience. She holds membership with the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists - BACP - and uses a person-centred approach that keeps the client's experience at the centre of sessions. Karen aims to create a warm, non-judgemental space where people can talk about what matters to them.
Her background includes work in a GP surgery and roles supporting people affected by trauma, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Background and approach
She has also provided occupational health counselling and employee assistance work for Northumbria Police, where she supported people through stress and trauma. These roles informed her practical experience with anxiety, depression and bereavement. Karen draws on several approaches to suit different needs, including existential ideas about meaning, attachment-focused ways of understanding relationships, and cognitive behavioural techniques to address unhelpful thinking.
She also uses EMDR and hypnotherapy when appropriate. Sessions are guided by the client and shaped around their goals. She supports people dealing with addictions, relationship difficulties, grief, parenting strain, issues around identity such as LGBT concerns, and challenges like ADHD or chronic illness.
Karen also works with more specific concerns such as abandonment, body image, caregiver stress and communication problems. Therapy is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text messaging. Karen notes that talking by video can be especially powerful, but she adapts the format to what each person finds most comfortable.
To begin, a short matching questionnaire helps connect someone to her practice.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Karen lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Depression
- LGBT
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Karen names
- Existential Therapy
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Hypnotherapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist lists and does not check training records.
Online support
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Existential therapy helps people look at meaning and choice in their lives; it explores values, responsibility and ways to live with uncertainty. This approach can be useful for coping with big life changes, loss, or feeling stuck.Attachment-based therapy focuses on how early relationships shape current patterns. It helps people understand attachment styles and improve how they connect, communicate and manage conflict in close relationships.
The therapist treats choice of approach as a shared decision. At the start she will listen to your concerns, discuss different ways of working and agree a plan that fits your goals and preferences. That plan can change as therapy progresses so you keep control of the process.
Online therapy offers several practical benefits. Video calls let you see facial expressions and have a fuller conversation, while phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging are helpful for people who prefer typing, want brief check-ins between sessions or need flexibility around work and caregiving commitments. Registered or accredited professionals can adapt techniques such as CBT, EMDR or attachment work to these formats to make therapy effective and convenient.
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Questions people ask
What kinds of problems does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, addictions, relationship and intimacy issues, grief and parenting strain among many other concerns.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
The style is person-centred and collaborative, with emphasis on listening without judgement and helping people make sense of their choices and feelings.
What background does she have in trauma and workplace counselling?
Her experience includes counselling in a GP surgery, trauma work with people who have self-harmed or experienced child sexual abuse, and occupational health counselling for Northumbria Police.
What are her credentials and where is she based?
She is a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and practices in the United Kingdom.
Can sessions be conducted in other languages or for international clients?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not accepting international clients.
Which session formats are available?
Therapy can take place via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to suit different needs and schedules.
How do fees and payments work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be cancelled at any time.
What is the first step to begin therapy?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
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