Justine Blakeman

Justine Blakeman is a BACP member with six years of hands-on therapeutic work. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression and mood concerns such as bipolar. She also supports clients facing relationship difficulties, trauma and abuse, and challenges around parenting and family separation.

Her practice emphasises the client as the expert in their own life. She works in a straightforward way to help people identify their strengths and use those strengths to tackle problems. Many people come to her feeling stuck or overwhelmed, and she aims to make the first steps feel manageable.

In sessions she uses approaches such as client-centred work, cognitive behavioural techniques and DBT skills alongside mindfulness and motivational interviewing. That mix is used to make sense of current struggles and to build practical coping strategies. The emphasis is on simple tools that can be tried between meetings.

Justine has experience supporting people through parenting concerns including domestic abuse and navigation of family court and criminal justice processes in the UK. She also works with issues such as addictions, eating and sleeping problems, grief, self-esteem and work stress.

Her way of working is collaborative and paced to the person in front of her. She invites people to talk through what matters most, set clear goals and adjust plans as progress is made.

How her therapeutic approaches translate to online work

Client-Centred Therapy places the person's own experience at the heart of sessions. The therapist listens, reflects and follows what matters most to the client, helping them make sense of feelings and choices. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking and trying new behaviours. It often involves practical exercises and short tasks to try between appointments. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) teaches skills for managing strong emotions and improving interpersonal effectiveness, which can be useful for stress, mood swings and relationship strain.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss options, try techniques, and adapt what they do based on the client's goals and preferences. This is a collaborative process where methods are reviewed and changed if they are not helpful.

Confirm the session formats available before booking so you know how meetings will be delivered. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, reduce travel time and allow short check-ins when needed. They also let people use written or recorded exercises between meetings to practise new skills. Registered or accredited professionals can help plan sessions that suit your schedule and make therapy a realistic part of everyday life.