Elaine — Person-Centred Counsellor in Hertford & Bishop's Stortford
At a Glance
- Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
- Person-Centred Counsellor (Level 5) · Additional CPD including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Individual counselling · EAP counselling · Organisational referrals
- Over seven years of counselling experience, including four years in a drug and alcohol service
- Specialist experience: anxiety · anger management · alcohol addiction · gambling · bereavement
- Face-to-face in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford · Online and telephone UK-wide
- Adults (18+) · Older adults · EAP clients · Organisational referrals
- £65 per session
- Daytime and evenings
- Free 15-minute consultation — no commitment, no pressure
Counselling in Hertford & Bishop’s Stortford — About Elaine
Sometimes what brings a person to counselling is something specific — a loss, a relationship that has become difficult, a period of anxiety that won’t lift. Sometimes it is harder to name than that. Whatever has led you here, Elaine offers a warm, compassionate space to explore it at your own pace.
Elaine is a qualified Person-Centred counsellor with over seven years of experience, offering face-to-face sessions from two locations in Hertfordshire — Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford — and online and telephone counselling to adults across the UK. She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and holds a Level 5 qualification in Person-Centred counselling. Her practice integrates principles from Psychodynamic and Gestalt approaches within her Person-Centred framework, alongside additional CPD training including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), ensuring that her work is thoughtfully tailored to each individual.
Elaine has worked across a range of organisational and charitable settings as well as in private practice. Four years working in a drug and alcohol addiction service gave her particular depth and insight in supporting people struggling with alcohol dependence, problematic gambling, and the emotional patterns that often underpin addictive behaviour.
Background & Experience
Before establishing her private practice, Elaine built her counselling experience across a range of settings — organisational, charitable, and clinical. The four years she spent working in a drug and alcohol addiction service gave her a depth of practical experience in supporting people navigating addiction, dependency, and the complex emotional terrain that often accompanies those experiences.
This background informs her work broadly, not only with clients who are struggling with alcohol or gambling. It has given her a particular attentiveness to the patterns, avoidances, and coping strategies that develop around difficult emotions, and a non-judgmental, compassionate approach to working with whatever a client brings.
Elaine works with individual clients on a one-to-one basis and also supports those referred through EAP arrangements and one-off organisational referrals. She places the client’s needs at the heart of all that she does and maintains regular professional supervision alongside her ongoing CPD.
Therapeutic Approach
Elaine’s practice is grounded in Person-Centred counselling, integrating principles from Psychodynamic and Gestalt therapy alongside additional CPD training in CBT.
Person-Centred Counselling
Person-Centred counselling places you — your experience, your pace, your sense of what matters — at the heart of the therapeutic work. Elaine offers unconditional positive regard, empathy, and genuine presence in every session, creating a non-judgmental space where you can explore your thoughts and feelings without pressure or agenda. This approach trusts in your own capacity for understanding and growth, with Elaine walking alongside rather than directing. Person-Centred counselling in Hertford, Bishop’s Stortford, and online.
Integrated Approaches
Within her Person-Centred foundation, Elaine draws on Psychodynamic insights to explore how past experiences and unconscious patterns may be shaping present thoughts, feelings, and relationships. She also integrates Gestalt principles, which bring attention to present-moment awareness, the whole person, and the importance of what is happening in the here and now. Her additional CPD training in CBT allows her to incorporate practical tools for managing anxiety, unhelpful thought patterns, and emotional regulation where these are useful to a particular client.
Areas of Focus
Elaine offers counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford, and online and telephone counselling across the UK. The following are areas she works with regularly and has specific experience in.
Anxiety and panic
Anxiety counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford with Elaine offers a space to understand what is driving persistent worry, panic, or overwhelm, and to develop a different relationship with anxious thoughts and feelings. Whether anxiety is linked to a specific situation or feels more pervasive, Elaine works alongside you without judgment. Anxiety counselling Hertfordshire and online.
Anger management
Anger management counselling with Elaine explores what lies beneath anger — the hurt, the fear, the frustration — and supports you in developing a more considered relationship with strong emotions. Elaine’s Person-Centred approach means this work is done with compassion, not criticism. Anger management counsellor Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford.
Alcohol addiction and problematic drinking
Elaine’s four years working in a drug and alcohol addiction service give her a genuine depth of experience in supporting people who are concerned about their relationship with alcohol. Alcohol counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford with Elaine is non-judgmental and client-led — working at your pace, without pressure. Alcohol counselling Hertfordshire and online.
Gambling
Elaine has specific experience working with people who gamble excessively and want to explore what is driving it and what the next steps might look like. Gambling counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford, and online across the UK.
Depression and low mood
Depression counselling with Elaine in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford offers a compassionate space to explore persistent low mood, loss of motivation, or the quiet weight of feeling stuck. Online depression counselling is also available across the UK.
Bereavement and loss
Bereavement counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford with Elaine offers an unhurried, compassionate space to process grief in whatever form it takes — whether the death of someone close, the end of a relationship, or another significant loss.
Stress and work-related stress
Whether you are navigating workplace pressure, personal stress, or the particular exhaustion of trying to manage too much for too long, counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford with Elaine can offer a space to step back and understand what is happening. Work-related stress counselling Hertfordshire and online.
Relationships, trauma and domestic abuse
Elaine works with individuals navigating relationship difficulties, the aftermath of trauma, and the effects of domestic abuse. Relationship counselling and trauma counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford, and online across the UK.
Sessions with Elaine
Elaine offers face-to-face counselling from two locations in Hertfordshire — Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford — and online and telephone counselling to adults across the UK. Sessions are available during the day and in the evenings.
Elaine works with individual clients on a private basis, and also supports those referred through EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) arrangements and one-off organisational referrals.
Sessions are 50 minutes. Sessions are confidential. There are limited circumstances in which this may need to change — for example, if there is a serious risk of harm to you or others. Elaine will explain these clearly before any work begins.
Hertford — Location & Catchment
Elaine’s Hertford practice offers face-to-face counselling to clients in Hertford and the surrounding areas of Hertfordshire. Online and telephone sessions are available to anyone across the UK. If you are based in or near Hertford, the following gives you a sense of how long it typically takes to travel to Hertford.
| Hatfield | 13 mins |
| Welwyn Garden City | 15 mins |
| Hoddesdon | 15 mins |
| Harlow | 20 mins |
| Buntingford | 20 mins |
| Cheshunt | 20 mins |
| Stevenage | 23 mins |
| St Albans | 26 mins |
| Harpenden | 27 mins |
| Ware | 5 mins |
Journey times show how long it takes to reach Hertford by the fastest available transport. Online and telephone counselling is available to anyone across the UK.
Elaine’s Hertford counselling practice is particularly convenient for clients based in Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, and Stevenage.
Bishop’s Stortford — Location & Catchment
Elaine’s Bishop’s Stortford practice offers face-to-face counselling to clients in Bishop’s Stortford and the surrounding areas of East Hertfordshire and Essex. If you are based in or near Bishop’s Stortford, the following gives you a sense of how long it typically takes to travel there.
| Stansted Mountfitchet | 5 mins |
| Sawbridgeworth | 8 mins |
| Hertford | 15 mins |
| Roydon | 15 mins |
| Harlow | 20 mins |
| Ware | 20 mins |
| Buntingford | 20 mins |
| Great Dunmow | 20 mins |
| Saffron Walden | 20 mins |
| Braintree | 25 mins |
Journey times show how long it takes to reach Bishop’s Stortford by the fastest available transport. Online and telephone counselling is available to anyone across the UK.
Elaine’s Bishop’s Stortford counselling practice is particularly convenient for clients based in Harlow, Sawbridgeworth, and the surrounding Essex border towns.
Fees
- Individual sessions: £65 per session
As part of Hope Therapy’s team of 90+ qualified counsellors, Elaine is matched to clients where there is a strong therapeutic fit. Counselling in Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford with Hope Therapy starts from £65 — significantly more accessible than many comparable private practices in Hertfordshire.
Book a Free Consultation
If you are looking for a counsellor in Hertford or Bishop’s Stortford, or would like to access online or telephone counselling from anywhere in the UK, a free 15-minute consultation is a good place to start. There is no commitment and no pressure — just a chance to ask questions and find out whether Elaine is the right fit for you.
Hope Therapy’s team is also available by phone 24 hours a day if you would prefer to speak to someone before booking.
Book your free consultation: https://calendly.com/hopetherapy/15-minute-consultation
More Info
| Qualifications | Person-Centred Counselling Level 5, Additional CPD including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) |
| Professional membership | Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) |
| NCPS | Hope Therapy & Counselling Services is an Organisational Member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) |
| Services | Individual counselling · EAP counselling · Organisational referrals |
| Therapeutic approach | Person-Centred (Level 5) · Integrated: Psychodynamic, Gestalt · Additional CPD: CBT |
| Session format | Face-to-face (Hertford · Bishop’s Stortford) · Online · Telephone |
| Session length | 50 minutes |
| Availability | Daytime · Evenings |
| Fee | £65 per session |
| Venues | Hertford, Bishop’s Stortford |
| Languages | English |
| Last reviewed | April 2026 |
| Booking | https://calendly.com/hopetherapy/15-minute-consultation |
Further Areas Elaine Works With
- Alcohol addiction counselling Hertford and online
- Anger management counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Anxiety counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Bereavement counselling Hertford and online
- Bullying — counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Depression counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Diversity — counselling online
- Domestic abuse counselling Hertfordshire and online
- EAP counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Gambling counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) counselling online
- Grief counselling Hertford and online
- Health anxiety counselling online
- Life transitions counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Low self-confidence counselling Hertford and online
- Low self-esteem counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Panic attacks counselling Hertford and online
- Person-Centred counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Relationship counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Self-esteem counselling Hertford and online
- Social anxiety counselling online
- Stress counselling Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford
- Trauma counselling Hertfordshire and online
- Work-related stress counselling Hertford and online
- Listing ID: 248
- Type of Support: CBT Counselling, Counselling
- Types of Counselling: Adults (18+)
- Type of Session: In Person, Online (Via Zoom & Skype), Phone
- Availability: Daytime, Evening