Kathleen Rao
Practical, integrative counselling for stress and grief
About Kathleen
Kathleen Rao is a counsellor who focuses on practical, evidence-based ways to help people manage stress, anxiety and depression. She also supports people facing grief, parenting strains and family-related problems. Kathleen works online and listens carefully to what each person brings to sessions so they can feel more confident about their next steps.
Kathleen believes people know themselves best and uses that as the starting point for therapy. She aims to build trust and a steady working relationship so people feel comfortable talking about difficult thoughts and memories.
Background and approach
Her style is warm and direct, with an emphasis on making sense of what is happening here and now. She draws on an integrative approach, choosing methods that suit the issue in front of her rather than using one single model. That makes it easier to address a range of concerns from panic attacks and phobias to mood disorders and attachment questions.
Kathleen has a particular interest in grief, complex grief, and perinatal and postnatal issues including complications around pregnancy and childbirth. Her wider focus covers long-term health conditions, chronic pain and carer stress, fatherhood issues, financial worry and life purpose. She also helps people dealing with postpartum depression, self-harm thoughts, and hospice or end-of-life matters.
Sessions aim to be practical, with achievable steps between meetings. Kathleen is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP. She has three years of practice as a therapist and has worked in mental health roles for many years, including ten years in the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.
What Kathleen works with
Sessions & fees
How Kathleen adapts evidence-based approaches online
Kathleen uses an integrative, evidence-focused way of working, selecting techniques that match the person and their concern. One commonly used approach is brief problem-focused work that helps identify unhelpful patterns and builds small, achievable changes; this can help with panic attacks, phobias and day-to-day anxiety. Another is grief-focused support that helps people make sense of loss and manage intense emotions, including complex grief and issues around end of life and hospice care.Finding the right approach is part of the process. Kathleen will discuss options at the start and adjust methods as therapy progresses. She works collaboratively, listening to goals and preferences and agreeing a plan together so sessions feel relevant and useful.
Online therapy offers practical benefits for many people. Video calls let you use visual cues and a fuller conversational flow. Phone sessions can work better when bandwidth is limited or for a shorter check-in. Live chat and text-based messaging suit people who prefer writing or need more flexible, asynchronous contact. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, parenting or health commitments and to keep continuity between sessions.
| Session length | Typically 50 minutes |
|---|---|
| Client ages | Adults, 18 and over |
| Fees | Subscription via BetterHelp, cancel anytime |
| Insurance | Not billed directly |
Questions people ask
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Areas of focus
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Grief
Also listed
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Depression
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Hospice and end-of-life counselling
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self-harm
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
- Experience
- 3 years
- Registered with
- BACP
- Languages
- English
