Counsellor profile
Madeleine Heffernan, BACP
BACP counsellor - relationships and family concerns
Continue with MadeleineAbout
- Attachment work
- CBT techniques
- Mindfulness practice
About Madeleine
Madeleine Heffernan is a BACP counsellor practising in the United Kingdom with eight years' experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, relationship and family difficulties, trauma and abuse, depression, addictions and parenting strains. Madeleine also supports people dealing with grief, intimacy issues, eating concerns, anger and career-related pressures.
She uses a mix of approaches rather than one fixed method. Sessions can include listening and talking through life events, looking at how past experiences shape current patterns, and noticing thoughts and behaviours that cause distress. Madeleine may offer practical tasks to try between meetings when they seem helpful.
Her work draws on psychodynamic ideas to make sense of recurring patterns and on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to identify unhelpful thought and behaviour loops. Emotionally-Focused Therapy and Attachment-Based ideas inform how she looks at relationship needs and emotional bonds. Mindfulness techniques are sometimes used to help with stress and anxiety.
Madeleine aims to help people develop a kinder inner dialogue and clearer ways of managing difficult feelings. She offers short observations and exercises alongside conversational work. The focus is on what is useful now and on understanding how earlier experiences affect present choices.
Practical details are arranged through an online system. Madeleine answers messages daily between 08:30 and 20:30 and provides up to an hour of messaging per week. Live sessions are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 08:00 and 18:00 via video, phone or instant messaging.
How sessions work
Approaches that shape online sessions
Attachment-based ideas focus on how early bonds affect close relationships now. This approach helps people notice patterns in how they seek comfort and respond to others, which can be useful for relationship and parenting concerns.Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at the link between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Online CBT work often involves identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and trying short practical tasks between sessions to test new ways of coping.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) concentrates on emotional responses in relationships. It helps people name emotions, see how they affect interactions and try different ways of responding to partners or family members.
Deciding which approach to use is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk about goals, try methods in session and adjust the plan based on what helps most. Clients and therapist work together to find the best fit for the issue and life circumstances.
Confirm the exact session formats before booking, as these can vary. Madeleine's biography notes she offers live sessions by video, phone or instant messaging and allows message contact between sessions. Online work can make it easier to fit appointments around family life, reduce travel time and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
8+ years
Listed in
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of family and parenting concerns does she help with?
She works with people dealing with family conflict, blended family issues, parenting strain and communication problems within households.
How would she describe her therapeutic style?
Madeleine combines conversational psychodynamic work with practical CBT tasks, mindfulness and emotionally-focused ideas to address feelings and patterns.
How much experience does she have?
She has eight years of clinical experience working with a range of issues including trauma, anxiety and relationship difficulties.
What credential does she hold and where is she based?
She is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and practises in the United Kingdom.
Can she work with people who do not live in the UK?
Sessions are offered in English and international clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are used?
Her biography states she runs live sessions by video, phone or instant messaging and answers messages daily; confirm current session options before booking.
How are fees handled?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription model that can be cancelled at any time.
What do I need to do to start?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire and schedule your first session.
Details come from information the counsellor supplied to BetterHelp. A registration can be checked with the body that issued it.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If anyone is in danger, use the crisis numbers.