Leanne Keegan

I particularly love working with young adults. I know that your late teens and twenties can be a lot to navigate, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, relationships, family, studying, work, identity and simply trying to work out who you are and where you fit in. Sometimes it can feel like everyone else has it together when you really don't.

I'm very down to earth, and I think that matters when you're talking to someone about things that might feel difficult, embarrassing or hard to explain. You don't have to sit there wondering what the "right" thing to say is, and you definitely don't need to have everything figured out before you come to me. We can talk, laugh, get frustrated, sit with the difficult stuff and work things out together. I want you to feel comfortable enough to genuinely be yourself.

Alongside working with young adults, I have a particular interest in inner-child healing, trauma and PTSD, bereavement and supporting LGBTQ+ clients. I also use creative approaches, including stones and family sculpting, because sometimes it's easier to show or explore something than to find the words for it. There's absolutely no pressure to do anything creative, it's simply another way of working if it feels right for you.

I don't believe counselling should be about putting you into a box or following a textbook formula. Everyone is different, and what helps one person might not help another. I draw from different approaches, including person-centred therapy, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, but I use them flexibly and always with you rather than at you.

Some sessions might involve talking things through. Sometimes you might want something more practical and structured. Other times, we might need to slow things down and explore something that has been sitting beneath the surface for a long time. We'll work out what feels useful and comfortable for you.

My own journey into counselling also comes from understanding how much it can mean to have someone really listen.

Before becoming a counsellor, I worked in office management for many years. What I loved most about that job wasn't really the job itself, it was looking after people. I supported colleagues who had come straight from university and were trying to find their feet in a new culture and a new stage of life. Helping people feel settled and supported was always the part that mattered most to me.

When my daughter was nineteen, she experienced severe anxiety. As a mum, I saw how easy it can be to miss what someone is really going through when they are trying to hide or mask their pain. I also experienced the guilt and helplessness that can come with wanting so desperately to make things better for someone you love.

Watching her therapist work with her changed something in me. I saw the difference that having someone create a genuinely safe, accepting space could make, and I realised that this was what I wanted to do too.

Now, I get to offer that space to other people.

I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, and I won't pretend to have all the answers. You are the expert on you. My job is to listen, help you untangle what's going on, and sometimes gently help you look at the things that might be keeping you stuck.

Most importantly, I want counselling with me to feel like a place where you can turn up as yourself, not a version of yourself that you think you're supposed to be.

We can take things at your pace, start wherever feels easiest and see where it takes us. Whether you're struggling with anxiety, OCD, ADHD, trauma, loss, your sense of identity, or simply feeling like you're not quite yourself at the moment, you don't have to work it all out on your own.