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    • Your Therapist
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    • The ArtsEd Team
  • Home
  • Your Therapist
  • About
  • Contact
  • Therapy for Students
  • Couples Counselling
  • Therapy for Men
  • BetterTalk Teams
  • What is SFT?
  • Your Protection
  • The ArtsEd Team

A group of solution-focused counsellors, all advanced graduates of BRIEF.org in London, we are proud to have been chosen by ArtsEd to offer additional student support.

We specialize in a wide range of counselling issues, and offer support to individuals of all backgrounds and genders. 

The team are Fiona Bird, Martin Buckley, Kelly Rodrigues, Jacqui Thomas and Alex Valls. Scroll down to read our profiles:

The ArtsEd S-F Team

Alex

Jacqui

Fiona

Alex is a hypnotherapist as well as counsellor. He helps clients manage  stress, anxiety, self-esteem issues, and phobias. He has a special understanding of LGBTQ+ issues.

Alex also focuses on Personal Development -- helping  clients maximise their talents -- and he will aim to help you achieve your life goals by looking towards your futur

Alex is a hypnotherapist as well as counsellor. He helps clients manage  stress, anxiety, self-esteem issues, and phobias. He has a special understanding of LGBTQ+ issues.

Alex also focuses on Personal Development -- helping  clients maximise their talents -- and he will aim to help you achieve your life goals by looking towards your future. 

Alex studied counselling at WPF in London Bridge, studied as a hypnotherapist (Dip Hip CS), and also studied Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT) with Terence Watts. Becoming interested in solution-focused therapy, he then  trained to Advanced level (SFBT) with BRIEF in London.  

Helping people is the priority for Alex; he has provided solution-focussed therapy to many clients struggling with drugs-related and prison backgrounds. With a focus on personalised plans and a caring, supportive approach, he wants to help all his clients on their journey towards greater well-being. 

Fiona

Jacqui

Fiona

  Fiona believes people already possess the capacity and potential to make changes that are right for them. It's a strengths-based approach that looks towards possibilities and hope rather than focusing on problems people are experiencing.  

Fiona will spend a first session establishing the hopes that you have of counselling, working with 

  Fiona believes people already possess the capacity and potential to make changes that are right for them. It's a strengths-based approach that looks towards possibilities and hope rather than focusing on problems people are experiencing.  

Fiona will spend a first session establishing the hopes that you have of counselling, working with you develop an idea of your desired future, drawing on your existing strengths and resources. 

Fiona has been working with adults, young people, children and families for over 15 years in the charity sector, education, social care and in a therapeutic She is a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered therapist specialising in Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). She has a Masters in Drama and Movement Therapy and  advanced trainings in Systemic Practice and Cognitive Behavioural Interventions. She is also a trained and practicing clinical supervisor. 

Kelly

Jacqui

Jacqui

  Whether supporting young people to navigate college life, or complex relationship

dynamics, Kelly helps them to build confidence, and guides them through life's transitions. She asks reflective, respectful questions, designed to uncover resilience and promote self-efficacy.  Kelly strongly believes in the inherent capacity for growth and

  Whether supporting young people to navigate college life, or complex relationship

dynamics, Kelly helps them to build confidence, and guides them through life's transitions. She asks reflective, respectful questions, designed to uncover resilience and promote self-efficacy.  Kelly strongly believes in the inherent capacity for growth and change in everyone. Her approach is warm, collaborative, person-centred, and non-judgmental. She aims

to help clients identify their strengths, clarify what matters most to them, and help them to

take practical, hope-filled steps toward meaningful change.

Kelly is a registered mental health nurse practitioner, with training in Compassion Focused

Therapy and Low-Intensity CBT.  She has over 15 years of experience supporting

 children, young people and adults in the NHS and children’s social care, and currently

provides therapeutic support in schools and colleges. 


Jacqui

Jacqui

Jacqui

Using a person-centred approach, Jacqui has helped many people to discover and explore their strengths, confidence, and resilience, enabling their self-healing and emotional recovery, and supporting them to develop a clear idea of the kind of future they are looking for. 

Jacqui's background has been as a mental health nurse, where she spe

Using a person-centred approach, Jacqui has helped many people to discover and explore their strengths, confidence, and resilience, enabling their self-healing and emotional recovery, and supporting them to develop a clear idea of the kind of future they are looking for. 

Jacqui's background has been as a mental health nurse, where she specialized in the NHS and various charities to help individuals with chronic suicidal thoughts -- giving her huge experience with acute and urgent needs. 

More recently, as an Advanced Level graduate of BRIEF in London, Jacqui has developed a practice in solution-focussed counselling. Jacqui divides her time between Devon and Chiswick, and has a long-standing relationship with ArtsEd, where her daughter was a student! 

Martin

Martin

Martin

Martin spent two decades  behind and in front of the cameras, producing and presenting politics, arts and travel documentaries for the BBC and Discovery Channel, working in 45 countries. He had the opportunity to direct many well-known actors, including Bill Nighy, and co-authored a play performed at the Edinburgh Festival. He has also wr

Martin spent two decades  behind and in front of the cameras, producing and presenting politics, arts and travel documentaries for the BBC and Discovery Channel, working in 45 countries. He had the opportunity to direct many well-known actors, including Bill Nighy, and co-authored a play performed at the Edinburgh Festival. He has also written three books for Penguin, both fiction and non-fiction.

After becoming a father, Martin started lecturing on politics and creative writing at university, also collaborating on projects with the Acting and Performance degrees. Discovering a love of  student counselling, he subsequently trained as a solution-focussed psychotherapist, and founded the BetterTalk therapy website. Martin is still a working journalist, and recently completed a feature-length documentary about Palestine. He sees therapy clients several days a week, currently including undergraduates and recent graduates from London and Bristol universities, and the Open University.   

Martin

Martin

Martin

As a university psychology professor and counsellor working with students, Rose  understands the challenges of university life. 


As a university psychology professor and counsellor working with students, Rose  understands the challenges of university life. 

Whether it's helping you adjust to a new environment, manage academic pressures, navigate relationships, or simply trying to find your footing, she aims to have conversations where you feel heard and understood. 

Rose believes everyone has the capacity to thrive, and deserves support without judgment. That old saying - A problem shared is a problem halved - turns out mostly to be true. 

With Rose's expertise in psychological support, and your expertise in your own situation, you can jointly make the most of evidence-based techniques to move forward in life.

In Rose's university role, she specialises in studying communication and how to have trusting conversations, training doctors, nurses and teachers to communicate in ways that empower people to realise their strengths and become happier and more confident.

Working to help you create the future you choose

Notes:


(The following notes are for the attention of private clients of BetterTalk.UK)


*  Typical session length is 50-55 minutes.   

** Direct Debit payment is available on packages of 4 sessions and above. Terms are 50% up-front, followed by weekly payments. E.g. for the five-session package, you would pay £110 up-front, then three payments of £36.66 in weeks 3, 4 & 5. 

*** Friends & Family Discount: The discount is valid for one purchased package only.           

**** Evidence of status required. The unwaged, those on health benefits and students pay from £25/session. See the OUR LOW COSTS on the BetterTalk for Students tab.

Affordable Online Couples Counselling: please see the Couples Counselling tab for prices. 

Specialist therapists: BetterTalk is the only UK therapeutic provider where every therapist has been trained to Advanced Level at the prestigious BRIEF Centre for Solution Focused Practice in London and is a member of the United Kingdom Association for Solution-Focused Practice (UKASFP).

SFT and CBT: Our core approach is SFT -- solution-focused therapy (see ABOUT tab for more); our team can also provide BACP-accredited CBT counselling as part of our affordable online therapy services.

Session Validity: Single sessions purchased are valid for two weeks, double-session packages for four weeks, four-session packages for six months, five & six-session packages for one year. 


BetterTalk.UK Is a British therapy and counselling provider which offers affordable online therapy and counselling via single sessions and discount packages. It is not affiliated or associated in any way with betterhelp, the subsidiary of the US company Teladoc Health, Inc. (see BetterHelp UK Costs Revealed: 2025 Review & Price Guide and www.betterhelp.com.).


The contents of this website and the resources it links to are  for informational purposes only and in no way represent contractual relationships or medical advice. Nothing here should be understood to diagnose any condition or in any way substitute direct communication with a BetterTalk practitioner, or your GP or preferred mental health advisor. 

While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all information provided here, it is intended as guidance only, and users of this site should independently verify such information as they find relevant to themselves.

BetterTalk 2025 - All Rights Reserved. BetterTalk.uk asserts its copyright and/or moral rights, as appropriate, with regard to the phrases: "Bettertalk"/"Better-Talk", "We'd Better Talk", "You can talk to us", "Find Affordable Online Therapy" and "Book a Conversation Now".


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