Joanna King Counselling & Psychotherapy Services - Online Therapy for Relational Difficulties, Anxiety, Low Self-Worth, Emotional Regulation, Negative Self Talk & Healing Core Wounds

Joanna
King

BSc, Dip, MBACP

You may find yourself struggling with self-worth, anxiety, people-pleasing, emotional overwhelm, or a persistent sense that something is “wrong” with you — even when life looks fine on the outside. You might appear capable and high-functioning, yet privately feel disconnected, exhausted, or unsure of who you really are.

Often these patterns didn’t begin with you. They can take shape in subtle early experiences — moments of feeling unseen, unsafe, or emotionally alone. When our needs aren’t fully met or mirrored, we adapt. Those adaptations can later show up in relationships, in self-criticism, or in a nervous system that rarely feels truly settled.

I offer a warm, compassionate space where you can explore whatever is troubling you right now, at your own pace. Together, we gently uncover the roots of your patterns, helping you reconnect with yourself and feel more grounded from the inside out.

How I Can Help

Areas of Expertise

Areas I Work With

You may already know what you want support with, or you may simply have a sense that something doesn’t feel right. Perhaps you’re feeling emotionally overwhelmed, struggling in relationships, disconnected from yourself, or finding it difficult to cope in the way you once could.

You do not need to have the “right” language or fully understand your struggles before starting therapy. The areas below reflect some of the experiences I commonly support people with, though our work together is always shaped around you, your experiences, and what feels most important in your life.

Anxiety, Stress & Emotional Overwhelm

You may feel constantly “on edge,” emotionally overwhelmed, or unable to fully switch off, even when there is no obvious reason why. Racing thoughts, overthinking, disrupted sleep, irritability, panic, or feeling emotionally flooded can make everyday life feel exhausting.

Together, we work towards helping you feel calmer, more emotionally balanced, and better able to move through life without constantly feeling overwhelmed.

People-Pleasing & Losing Yourself

If you often prioritise other people’s needs over your own, struggle to say no, avoid conflict, or feel responsible for keeping everyone else happy, it can gradually leave you emotionally exhausted and disconnected from yourself.

You may lose touch with your own needs, boundaries, feelings, or identity underneath the pressure of trying to keep relationships stable or avoid disappointing others.

Addiction, Escapism & Emotional Pain

Alcohol, substances, compulsive behaviours, overworking, scrolling, or other forms of escape can sometimes become ways of coping with emotional pain, loneliness, stress, or feelings that feel too overwhelming to sit with alone.

Beneath these patterns, you may be carrying difficult emotions, shame, emptiness, or emotional struggles that have never felt fully safe to process or express.

Relationship Struggles & Attachment Patterns

Relationships may leave you feeling anxious, emotionally reactive, disconnected, or afraid of being rejected, abandoned, or not fully valued. You might notice yourself becoming overly dependent, pulling away emotionally, struggling to trust others, or repeating painful relationship patterns that leave you hurt or confused.

Therapy can help you better understand these patterns, strengthen your sense of self, and build healthier, more secure relationships

Overthinking & Emotional Exhaustion

Your mind may replay conversations long after they have happened, over-analyse situations, or constantly anticipate worst-case scenarios. Even when you appear to be coping on the outside, internally you may feel emotionally drained, mentally exhausted, or unable to properly rest.

Therapy can help you quiet the constant mental noise, better understand these patterns, and create more emotional balance, calm, and clarity.

Healing Emotional Wounds

Some emotional struggles can feel as though they keep repeating no matter how much insight, self-awareness, or effort you have. You may carry a lingering sense of hurt, emptiness, loneliness, or emotional pain that feels difficult to fully understand or move through.

Therapy offers a compassionate space to gently explore these experiences and begin developing greater emotional clarity, resilience, and connection with yourself.

Self-Worth & Feeling “Not Good Enough”

You may find yourself living with a constant sense of self-doubt, harsh inner criticism, or the feeling that you are somehow not enough, unworthy, unlovable, or “too much.” Even when you achieve things or appear to be doing well on the outside, there may still be an internal sense of never quite measuring up.

Our work together focuses on helping you develop greater self-worth, self-trust, and a more compassionate relationship with yourself, so these deeply held beliefs no longer define how you experience yourself.

Feeling Disconnected From Yourself

At times, you may feel emotionally numb, disconnected, lost, or as though you are simply surviving rather than fully living. Long periods of stress, emotional pain, relationships, or constantly coping can gradually create distance from your emotions, needs, identity, or sense of self.

This work helps you reconnect with yourself more deeply so you can begin feeling more emotionally present, grounded, and connected within your life again.

Healing the Inner Child

Part of you may still carry deep feelings of fear, shame, rejection, loneliness, or not feeling truly seen, understood, or emotionally safe. These experiences can continue affecting emotional reactions, relationships, and the way you relate to yourself in adulthood.

Inner child healing helps you gently explore these emotional experiences with compassion and care, supporting greater emotional safety, self-understanding, and self-acceptance.

CONTACT ME

What To Expect

What to Expect

Therapy sessions usually take place on a weekly basis, particularly at the beginning, as consistency helps to build safety, trust, and continuity in the therapeutic process.

I offer therapy online, which allows you to access support from the comfort of your own space. Many people find this feels safer, more contained, and easier to integrate into everyday life — particularly when working with sensitive or relational themes.

In our first session, we will gently explore what has brought you to therapy and what you are hoping for. There is no expectation to share everything at once. We move at a pace that feels manageable for you, with sensitivity to your nervous system and emotional capacity.

My approach is non-judgemental, relational, and trauma-informed. I aim to create a space where you don’t need to perform, explain yourself, or have the “right” words. Together, we explore how your past experiences may still be shaping your present — particularly your relationship with yourself and others.

I believe that unprocessed emotions are often held in the body, and that the body can offer valuable information about what we need. Where appropriate, we may integrate somatic awareness into our work — such as noticing sensations, breath, or emotional cues — always in a way that feels safe and consensual.

My intention is not to “fix” you, but to support you in reconnecting with your own inner resources, so that you feel more empowered, grounded, and able to respond to life from a place of self-trust rather than survival.

My Approach

My Approach

I am an integrative therapist, which means I draw on a range of therapeutic approaches and adapt my work to the individual, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all model. My work is informed by trauma-focused and relational approaches, grounded in an understanding of the nervous system and the impact of early relational experiences.

My core training is in Gestalt therapy, Person-Centred therapy, and Transactional Analysis, which form the foundation of how I work. These relational approaches place emphasis on awareness, authenticity, and understanding how early relationships and experiences shape our sense of self and ways of relating to others.

Over time, my work has been further informed by trauma-focused and parts-based perspectives, including Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the work of leading trauma clinicians such as Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk. These frameworks deepen our understanding of emotional responses, coping strategies, and relational patterns as adaptive and meaningful responses to experience, rather than something that is “wrong” or in need of fixing.

Together, these approaches allow us to gently explore emotions, patterns, and inner experiences with curiosity and compassion, helping you make sense of responses that may once have been necessary for safety, connection, or survival.

Many of the people I work with grew up needing to adapt emotionally or relationally in order to feel safe, accepted, or connected. Over time, these adaptations can show up as low self-worth, people-pleasing, difficulty trusting others, emotional overwhelm, or a persistent sense of not being “enough.” Therapy offers a space where these patterns can be met with understanding rather than judgement.

I work collaboratively and at a pace that feels manageable, supporting emotional regulation, internal safety, and a more compassionate relationship with yourself. My approach is trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming, and relational, with a particular interest in inner child work, core wound healing, rebuilding self-esteem, and strengthening self-worth.

I have a special interest in working with developmental trauma, complex trauma (often referred to as complex PTSD), co-dependency, attachment difficulties, and relational patterns shaped by early experiences.

Central to my work is the belief that when someone feels truly heard, seen, and understood, meaningful and lasting change becomes possible.

About Me

Before training as a therapist, I built a successful career in demanding professional environments. From the outside everything looked fine, yet internally something still felt unfulfilled. Beginning my own therapeutic work became about being able to look myself in the mirror and feel a sense of self-acceptance, rather than striving for something outside of myself to feel “enough.” This quietly reshaped how I related to myself, others, and my life. Over time, it became clear that supporting others in this kind of work is where I feel most aligned and present.

Healing, in my experience, doesn’t come from being told what’s wrong with you or being given answers to take in. Real change comes from within — from moments of insight that arise when you begin to see yourself more clearly and compassionately. My role is not to direct or analyse, but to offer the conditions and support that allow those moments to emerge in a way that feels genuine and lasting.

I don’t work from an “expert” position or create a sense of hierarchy between us. Therapy, for me, is a relational process where trust is built over time, and where we work side by side. I use my training and experience to help you understand yourself more deeply, rather than telling you who you are or how you should be.

I believe we can only meet others as deeply as we have met ourselves.

My work is shaped not only by professional training, but by my own long-term healing journey — through which I came to understand that lasting fulfilment doesn’t come from external achievement, but from self-acceptance and inner alignment. I don’t believe a therapist can take you somewhere they haven’t been willing to go themselves.

At the heart of my work is a belief that everyone deserves emotional freedom — the ability to feel at home within themselves and to live with greater ease, authenticity, and connection.

My Training

My work is grounded in formal training, ongoing professional development, and a strong ethical framework.

BSc (Hons) Humanistic Counselling – Middlesex University
Diploma in Humanistic Counselling – Metanoia Institute
Somatic Therapy for CPTSD – Arielle Schwartz/Janina Fisher
Attachment focused EMDR – Dr. Laurel Parnell
Trauma, Attachment & Neuroscience – Bessel van der Kolk & Licia Sky, Oxford University
IFS Masterclass – Frank Anderson
Jungian Shadow Mastery & Integration – CMA Accredited
Aquatic Therapy (Ways of Water) - Alexandra Ruiz

I am a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and work in line with their ethical framework and professional standards.