Carlie Machell-Kay, NCPS

Carlie Machell-Kay is a psychodynamic counsellor with a focus on trauma and relationship concerns. She helps people manage stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, grief, addiction and intimacy-related issues. Carlie also supports those coping with parenting strains, compassion fatigue, ADHD and life changes. She is based in the United Kingdom and works in English.

Carlie trained as a counsellor seven years ago and brings seven years of formal therapeutic practice to her work, alongside earlier experience in related roles. Before qualifying she spent many years working in women’s mental wellbeing and domestic abuse settings. That background informs her approach to trauma and relationship difficulties.

In sessions she draws on psychodynamic ideas to look at how past relationships shape present feelings and behaviour. She uses client-centred methods to keep the work focused on each person’s priorities. Narrative techniques help people reframe difficult stories and find different ways to tell them.

Carlie is approachable and adapts her style to what a person needs. She also has personal experience of neurodiversity and brain injury, which gives her an understanding of the challenges those issues can bring. Her practice aims to be practical, conversational and attentive to each person’s pace.

If someone is unsure how to begin, Carlie asks straightforward questions to clarify goals and next steps. The first sessions tend to focus on the most pressing concerns and on building a comfortable way of working together.

How these approaches work online and what they offer

Psychodynamic counselling looks at how past relationships shape current feelings and behaviour. Online sessions can allow time to reflect on recurring patterns and their roots, helping people understand why they react as they do. Narrative therapy focuses on the stories people tell about themselves. It helps to reframe difficult experiences and to separate identity from problems, which can be helpful for shame, grief and commitment worries.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Carlie will discuss goals and preferences and help decide which methods fit best. That process is collaborative and flexible, so the plan can change as progress is made.

The biography does not list specific session formats, so please confirm available options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy around daily life, for example by reducing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins during a busy day, or avoiding the need to be on camera if that helps someone engage. Many people find it simpler to keep continuity between sessions when therapy fits their routine rather than adding long journeys.