Karen Crooks, BACP

Karen Crooks is a BACP counsellor in the United Kingdom with three years of professional experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, self-esteem difficulties, addictions, relationship and intimacy-related issues, sleep and eating problems, parenting strains, anger, and coping with life changes.

Karen’s starting point is simple: the client knows their story best. She treats each person as the expert on their own life and helps them use existing strengths to change patterns that cause pain. Sessions are practical and conversational. Expect clear goals and steps rather than long lectures.

Her approach draws on mindfulness techniques to help manage strong feelings and attention, and on motivational interviewing to explore what really matters when someone wants to change. She also uses solution-focused ideas to set achievable short-term goals, and trauma-focused methods when past events are blocking progress.

Karen keeps sessions direct and grounded. She helps people notice unhelpful reactions to stress and practises alternatives in the room. Work can include breathing and attention exercises, brief behavioural experiments, and talking through difficult memories when it is helpful and safe to do so.

People usually come with one or two practical aims, such as reducing angry outbursts, sleeping better, or handling a relationship strain. Karen supports the planning of small steps and checks progress each session. She asks about what has helped before and uses that as a starting point for change.

Approaches used in online sessions and how they help