Margaret Finnegan, BACP

Margaret Finnegan is a qualified integrative therapeutic counsellor with five years of practice supporting people through stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties, grief, low self-esteem and depression. She combines person-centred principles with practical techniques to help clients explore thoughts, emotions and the links between mind and body. She has experience working both one-to-one and with groups to promote mental health awareness, and she draws on lived experience to empathise with clients and meet them with understanding and respect.

Margaret is registered with the BACP, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, which reflects her commitment to professional standards. To deepen her clinical skills she will be undertaking the CPCAB Level 5 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy diploma in September to enhance the range of tools she can offer. In sessions she helps clients become more aware of unhelpful thought patterns, develop compassionate self-understanding, and build practical strategies for coping with guilt, shame, isolation, social anxiety and related concerns.

Her approach is collaborative and paced to each person - supporting people to make sense of difficult feelings, strengthen self-love and reconnect with everyday life at a rate that feels manageable.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Support

Margaret uses client-centred therapy to create a supportive, non-judgemental space where the client’s experience and goals guide the process. This approach emphasises empathy, active listening and helping people build self-awareness and self-acceptance, which can be particularly helpful for issues like low self-esteem, grief and feelings of isolation.

She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - a practical, skills-based approach that helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and test them with real-world strategies. CBT is commonly used to address anxiety, stress and mood-related concerns by focusing on patterns of thinking and behaviour that maintain distress.

Finding the right therapeutic approach is part of the work itself. Margaret will collaborate with each client to determine the best fit based on their needs, goals and preferences, adapting methods as progress unfolds.

Online therapy offers flexible options for connecting, including video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, maintain continuity of care, and access support from wherever the client is located within the United Kingdom, all while allowing therapists to tailor session style to individual needs.