Hello, I'm Yvonne.
I'm an accredited counsellor and grief coach based in Matlock. I offer warm, grounded support for men and women, young adults, children, and families navigating grief, change, relationship strain, and the emotional challenges that life brings.
My approach is gentle, steady, and shaped by real experience — creating a safe space to talk, breathe, and begin to make sense of what you’re carrying. Sessions are confidential, providing adults and young people a welcome space to talk, process emotions, and find steadier ground.
Our work together may cover a whole range of areas of life, addressing feelings and emotions that may be hindering the individual from reaching their potential at work and in their personal life, and may have caused long-term struggles and difficulties. This in turn can bring a huge sense of relief, and freedom, as we talk through anxieties and fears, developing new coping strategies and so enabling my clients to look the future, with hope again.
Counselling for grief due to life's changes, anger management, anxiety and stress ...
I work with all types of grief, including bereavement, anticipatory grief, relationship loss, identity changes as we move through life and the quieter, less‑recognised losses that can feel hard to name, or we may not even be aware of. It is surprising how many times I am able to help my clients address losses, even from many years ago, that are causing problems today.
I also support my clients in areas of anger management, anxiety, self-esteem, confidence-building, depression and relationships.
My sessions are online and in-person for those who are local.
My main areas of grief counselling are:
- One-to-one counselling with men and women to help them cope without their loved one and find purpose in life again
- Children who need practical help and support with loss
- Teenagers and young people (often group sessions) to help address loneliness in loss
- Baby loss through miscarriage
- Other forms of grief support for life's losses - job loss, relationship break-ups and divorce,loss of independence, and other major life changes
Providing grief counselling for all ages
I am passionate about making grief support available for all people of all ages and backgrounds. Many of my clients are women, as they feel very comfortable talking about their losses to another woman who knows what it's like to me a 'mother-less mother' and the intense pain of baby loss through miscarriages. I also provide support for many men who need support to cope alone after the loss of their wife or partner, through my one-to-one sessions, but also through my local grief support group.
Children’s Grief Support
I feel that children and young people are often in need of specialised grief therapy but their needs are often not realised. I have many years' experience of working with children as a primary school teacher before retraining as a counsellor, and so now provide one-to-one sessions for children where talking about loss can be too painful for parents, who are also grieving.
I provide gentle 1:1 sessions for children, with optional parent involvement to help everyone feel supported. Children have their own confidential space to talk and express their feelings in ways that feel safe and age‑appropriate, but sessions are tailored to individual needs. Parents will receive appropriate feedback towards the end of a session and often support their child with tasks between sessions. I address grief using age-appropriate resources and therapy may include colouring, and craft activities and drawing upon each individual's interests.
Helping young people who feel alone in loss
From my experience working with teenagers and young people, I've found that they find it especially lonely when dealing with loss, many of their friends not having suffered loss yet. To this end, I also provide group counselling, enabling them to share their experience of grief with other young people, which can be very helpful for youngsters that may be having to come to terms with the loss of parents of siblings.
Workplace & School Training
I provide grief‑aware training and wellbeing support for organisations, schools, and businesses. This includes:
- Workshops and talks
- Group sessions
- 1:1 support for employees
- Training for managers, teachers, and HR teams
1:1 Counselling & Grief Coaching
A calm, confidential space to explore grief, anticipatory grief, anxiety, low confidence, emotional overwhelm, or relationship strain. Sessions move at your pace, with compassion and clarity.
I also offer specialist Group Counselling to support:
- Young adults (18–30) who feel alone in their grief
- Women navigating relationship concerns
- Children dealing with loss and needing support from outside the family
