Hi, I'm Anna Yardley
I'm an integrative counsellor and hypnotherapist based in East Devon, with around ten years of experience working with people one-to-one.
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I work with people experiencing anxiety, grief, life transitions and periods when life no longer feels quite right. Sometimes there's a clear reason for how you're feeling; at other times, you might simply know that something isn't working as it once did.
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My approach brings together psychological exploration, body awareness and, where appropriate, hypnotherapy and nature-based work. I'm interested in helping people understand their experiences, recognise familiar patterns and find ways forward that feel more their own.
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How I got here
Just before I turned thirty, I found myself drifting. I was going through the motions, repeating patterns I didn't fully understand, and struggling to find a sense of direction or purpose. I was living largely from the neck up — thinking, analysing and managing life, while feeling disconnected from my body and what I really needed.
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Then a period of significant ill health forced me to stop. It was a difficult and disorienting time, and finding my way through it was neither quick nor straightforward. But gradually, I began to pay attention differently: to my body, to what wasn't working, and to the parts of my life I'd been moving through without really questioning. I didn't come away with all the answers, but I began to understand the importance of listening rather than continually pushing through.
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That experience continues to influence how I work today. It taught me that change doesn't always begin with a clear plan. Sometimes it begins by slowing down, becoming curious about what we're experiencing, and allowing ourselves to see things differently.
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My professional path has also shaped the way I work with people. After studying psychology in Poland, I supported individuals and families affected by multiple sclerosis, including the changes to identity and everyday life that can accompany serious illness. I also facilitated therapeutic groups for people with learning difficulties and volunteered on a bereavement helpline, supporting people through loss.
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After moving to the UK, I completed my therapeutic training and volunteered with the mental health charity Mind and in local hospice care. These experiences brought me into contact with people facing very different circumstances, but they reinforced something important: each person's experience is unique, and there is no single way through difficult times.
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I began my private practice in 2017. Since then, I've worked with people experiencing anxiety, grief, life transitions and periods when familiar ways of living no longer seem to fit.
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I'm still interested in the questions that first drew me to this work: how we come to understand ourselves, how we find our way through change, and how we can build lives that feel more genuinely our own.
I approached Anna with a creative block. During the process I realised that art had been my way of seeking my family's approval — an unconscious burden that caused me stress every time I tried to paint. At first this realisation shocked me, but then everything started falling into place.
Soon after few session I felt a surge of creative energy and spontaneously started painting again — this time without pressure, purely for enjoyment. I also decided to sign up for singing lessons. - Ivy
How I work
I believe that understanding ourselves is an important part of change, but that understanding alone doesn't always make it easy to do things differently. We can recognise a familiar pattern and know where it comes from, yet still find ourselves caught in it.
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In our work together, we'll make space to explore what's happening in your life, what may be contributing to how you're feeling, and what you might need now. We'll pay attention not only to your thoughts and experiences, but also to your feelings, bodily responses and the patterns that can be difficult to put into words.
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I'm an integrative practitioner, which means I draw on different approaches depending on you and what you're bringing to our sessions. Counselling offers space to explore your experiences and relationships; body-based approaches can help you notice and work with how feelings show up physically; and, where appropriate, hypnotherapy can offer another way to explore habitual responses and possibilities for change.
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I also make room for imagination, images and metaphor when these help us approach something that is difficult to express directly. And for those who choose to work outdoors, the natural environment can become part of our exploration, offering a different setting in which to reflect and notice what emerges.
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There is no fixed formula to follow. We work collaboratively, at a pace that feels manageable, paying attention to what is useful for you rather than trying to fit you into a particular method.
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My aim is to help you make sense of your experiences, find new ways of responding to difficulties, and develop a stronger sense of what matters to you and how you want to live.
Working outdoors
Therapy doesn't always have to happen in a room. For some people, being outside in nature offers a different way to pause, reflect and explore what's happening in their lives.
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I offer outdoor therapy sessions in East Devon, in carefully chosen, tranquil settings where we can find some quiet and a degree of privacy. As we are outdoors, complete privacy cannot always be guaranteed, but I take care when choosing locations and will discuss any concerns with you. We'll also take the weather into account when planning sessions and agree on what to do if conditions aren't suitable.
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Depending on what feels comfortable for you, we might walk together, sit quietly or pause to notice the landscape around us. There is no need to be particularly outdoorsy or physically active. You don't need to know anything about nature, and there is no expectation to talk constantly or find meaning in everything around you.
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Sometimes, a change of setting can make it easier to think aloud, notice feelings or approach something from a different perspective. At other times, the landscape simply gives us space to be with what's happening, without needing to rush towards an answer.
As with any therapy, our sessions are guided by what you bring and what feels useful to you. The outdoors becomes part of the therapeutic space, rather than an activity you need to perform or get right.
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Outdoor sessions may not suit everyone, and that's absolutely fine. We can talk about what might work best for you before deciding whether this way of working feels right.
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I also offer online sessions across the UK & EU, so you can choose the setting that feels most comfortable and practical for you.
A little about me
I'm drawn to the ways we can understand life through the natural world, creativity and symbolism.
I love the changing seasons and the processes that shape a landscape over time — erosion, growth, decay and renewal. I also enjoy making things by hand, particularly stitching and textile work, where the choice of colours and textures, the joining of separate pieces and the patience of the process all become part of what emerges.
These are more than interests to me. They offer ways of thinking about life: how we change, what we carry with us, what we choose to hold on to, and how something new can take shape gradually, often without a clear plan from the beginning.
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I'm also interested in astrology and tarot as tools for self-exploration, particularly their symbolic and archetypal meanings. I enjoy the questions that images, stories and symbols can open up, and the different perspectives they can offer when we're trying to make sense of ourselves or a period of change.
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These interests inform my curiosity about people and the many ways we find meaning in our experiences. They don't provide a formula for living, but they remind me that there is rarely just one way to understand a situation, and that sometimes a new perspective can open up possibilities we hadn't previously considered.
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Having grown up in Poland and made my home in the UK, I also know something of the experience of finding your way between different places, cultures and ways of belonging.
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I work in English and Polish, offering online sessions across the UK and EU, as well as outdoor sessions in East Devon.
Credentials
MSc Psychology
Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling
Certificate in Hypnotherapy
Diploma in Astrology, Mayo School
Certificate in Human Design 1&2 with Karen Curry-Parker
Primary Certificate in Ecopsychology Informed Coaching and Counselling Practice
Member of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society
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Trained in IFS (Internal Family Systems), somatic approaches, and polyvagal theory with the Institute of Embodied Psychotherapy among other CPD courses
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Working in mental health since 2014 · Private practice since 2017