About

Helping people has always been important to me, and I have been a qualified and practicing counsellor for over 10 years. More recently, I have branched out to offer creative therapy, reiki, psychic-mediumship, spiritual art readings, and a wellbeing group called Reiki and Relax, which feels both exciting and refreshing. There is more still to come.

Love to learn

I have always had multiple interests on my learning journeys, and there came a point where I needed to start embracing these different facets of myself in order to move forward with more authenticity and wellbeing, which in turn supports the people I work with.

I believe it is important to continue both my personal and professional development, and in this way to lead by example.

I am drawn to creativity in many forms, including art, writing, music, and movement. I also enjoy learning about history, different spiritual approaches, and different healing traditions. Alongside this, I value supporting both people and animals, and have a particular soft spot for dogs. I also enjoy volunteering in my local community.

As part of my wider learning, I enjoy exploring history, mythology, archetypes, and frameworks such as astrology and Human Design.

Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld, holds a special place in my heart. Her story feels so relatable, both to myself and to many of the people I have met in my work as a therapist, helper, and space holder. She holds both light and dark, just as we do. She moves between descent and return, darkness and renewal, with these experiences existing as part of a greater whole. This feels so closely aligned with how I understand human experience: that we move through inner seasons, each with its own intelligence and meaning.

My own experiences reflect this too, as I reflect on my journeys through the dark, before emerging into the light, as well as everything in between. Over time, I have developed a capacity to hold space for whatever a person may bring into the room, and this is expressed through my personality too: I am as plain speaking as I am poetic, as grounded as I am whimsical. This range allows me to meet people where they are, with what they need.

For those familiar with Human Design, I am a 1/3 self-projected Projector. Projectors are often described as being here to see deeply, to guide, and support clarity, direction, and alignment in others. This feels meaningful to me in the way I work, and in practice reflects the way I have worked for many years (well before learning about Human Design). In my work, this looks like holding space for what is already present, noticing what is needed, reflecting it back with care, and supporting someone to reconnect with their own sense of direction. What matters most to me is not the label itself, but how it is lived.

Professional Interests

Some of my professional interests include working with creativity, bereavement, trauma, parts work, and inner child work and these are ways of working that often come up with my clients. Art and spirituality (both as separate areas, and combined) have been life-long companions to me, and I find so much joy in exploring them more, and having the opportunity to share that with others.

Professional Experience

As well as running my private practice, Laura Hughes Therapies (formerly Ember Counselling), I work with employee assistance programmes to provide counselling support to local people and organisations. I have previously worked as a counsellor with the TASHA Foundation’s online counselling helpline, Droitwich Foodbank, HOW College, a local wellbeing centre, the Stroke Association and Cruse Bereavement Care. I was a volunteer with Worcester Samaritans for several years, supporting callers and fellow volunteers. Over the years, I have gained valuable experience with organisations such as the Primrose Hospice and the community mental health team.

My Qualifications and Training

Appropriate training and qualifications are really important to me (plus, I just love to learn!). In industries such as counselling, reiki, complementary therapies, and psychic-mediumship, which are essentially unregulated, I have always been committed to professional membership, training, completing qualifications and gaining good quality work experience to improve the services I am able to offer my clients. I’m a great believer in learning things from the very basics to give myself a good foundation for higher levels of learning: I never assume I know something, and I will take as long as necessary to learn anything new, and continue to learn and develop over time.

I spent a number of years training to qualify as a counsellor and reiki practitioner and I continue to engage with professional development: I have a commitment to ongoing training every year as a Registered Member of The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and as a Master Practitioner Member of the UK Reiki Federation (UKRF).

Counselling, Supervision and Coaching:

CPCAB Facilitating Therapeutic Groups (Creative Counsellors, 2025)
IAFPD Certificate in Coaching (Centre for Coaching, 2021)
Certificate in Clinical Supervision (SPC Training, 2020)
(Level 7) Postgraduate Diploma in Mental Health Science (Open University, 2017 – 2018)
Relational Depth and Emotional Connection in Online Therapy (BACP, 2016)
Telephone Counselling: BACP Competency Update training (Sarah Hart, 2016)
BACP Certificate of Proficiency (Jan 2015)
Telephone Counselling Training: Working with Long and Short Term Clients (Sarah Hart, 2014)
CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Another Place Counselling Training, 2012 – 2014)
(Level 6) BSc (Hons) Counselling Psychology (University of Worcester, 2009 – 2012)
CPCAB Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies (NEW/HOW College, 2012)
Counselling Children and Adolescents Level 4 (2012)
Level 2 Certificate in Awareness in Bereavement Care (Cruse Bereavement Care, 2011)
CPCAB Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills (NEW/HOW College, 2011)
CPCAB Level 2 Award in Introduction to Counselling Skills (NEW/HOW College, 2010)

Creative Therapy:

Holistic Integrative Creative Arts Therapies (HICAT) practitioner training (Devine-Creative Education, 2024 – 2025)
Advanced creativity coaching training (Eric Maisel Training, 2021)
Introduction to creativity coaching (Eric Maisel Training, 2021)
Working creatively with aspects of self (Deep Release, 2021)
Integrating artwork in counselling practice (BACP, 2021)
Writing in bereavement (Cruse Bereavement Care, 2012)
Working creatively with clients (Cruse Bereavement Care, 2011)

Reiki:

Professional Usui Reiki Practitioner Diploma (accredited with UKRF; working towards CNHC registration) (Eastern and Western Lineages) (Ongoing – Helen Cochrane/Alvechurch Reiki, 2024-Ongoing)
Angelic Reiki Master Practitioner Teacher training (Christine Core/Angelic Reiki International, Nov 2025)
Usui Reiki Level 3 Shinpiden Master Practitioner Teacher (Eastern and Western Lineages) (Helen Cochrane/Alvechurch Reiki, Aug 2025)
Usui Reiki Professional Practice (Part of the Professional Usui Reiki Practitioner Diploma) (Eastern and Western Lineages) (Helen Cochrane/Alvechurch Reiki, Mar 2025)
Usui Reiki Level 1 Shoden (Part of the Professional Usui Reiki Practitioner Diploma) (Eastern and Western Lineages) (Helen Cochrane/Alvechurch Reiki, Jan 2025)
Usui Reiki Level 2 Okuden (Practitioner Level) (Part of the Professional Usui Reiki Practitioner Diploma) (Eastern and Western Lineages) (Helen Cochrane/Alvechurch Reiki, Nov 2024)
Spirit-Led Reiki First and Second Degree (Practitioner Level) (Hannah Macintyre, 2025)
Angelic Reiki First and Second Degree (Practitioner level) (Megan Wooldridge/OMegan Healing, 2024)
Animal Reiki Level 1 (2024)
Usui Reiki Level 2 (Practitioner level) (Western Lineage) (Laura Bartlett, 2024)
Usui Reiki Level 1 (Western Lineage) (Laura Bartlett, 2023)

Spiritual Development:

Elevate: Intermediate/Advanced Evidential Mediumship (Hannah Macintyre, 2026)
Mediumship & Psychic Development (Hannah Macintyre/The Gateway, 2024 – Ongoing)
Intuitive Art: Develop Psychic Ability (June-Eleni Laine, College of Psychic Studies, 2025)
Connect with Angels and Guides Foundation (Angelic Mediumship) (Kim Pilkington, College of Psychic Studies, 2025)
Intermediate Mediumship (Hannah Macintyre, 2025)
Wisdom of Metatron training (Christine Core, 2025)
Intermediate Psychic Development Course (Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, Wellness Foundry, 2025)
Foundation Psychic Development Course (Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, Wellness Foundry, 2024 – 2025)
Introductory Psychic Development Course (Michelle Virtue, Wellness Foundry, 2024)
Therapeutic Shamanism: Exploring the Lower World (Three Ravens, 2024)
Introduction to Therapeutic Shamanism (Three Ravens, 2024)

Some further areas of study/professional development

SP-EAK suicide prevention training (Papyrus, 2025)
Somatic experiencing (self-study, 2023)
Inner child work/’wounded parts’ (self-study, 2022)
The cognitive-behavioural approach to working with OCD (self-study, 2022)
The cognitive-behavioural approach to working with health anxiety (self-study, 2022)
Certificate for Career Coaches (CDI, 2021)
NCFE Cache Level 2 Certificate in Information, Advice or Guidance (2021)
Psychological First Aid training (PFA, 2016)
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA England, 2016)
The Value of Counselling for People with Mental Illness (TASHA Foundation, 2016)
Harm Minimisation in Alcohol Interventions (TASHA Foundation, 2016)
Reconnections: Loneliness and its Effects (Age UK, 2016)
Domestic Violence Awareness (Support Works, 2015)
Supported Conversation (working with aphasia) (Stroke Association, 2015)
Understanding Stroke – physical, psychological and emotional impact (Stroke Association, 2015)
Prince’s Trust Level 2 Award in Exploring Enterprise (Prince’s Trust, 2015)
Prince’s Trust Level 1 Award in Exploring Enterprise (Prince’s Trust, 2015)
The Freedom Programme for Professionals (Stonham Home Group, 2013)
Sudden and traumatic death (Cruse Bereavement Care, 2012)
A child’s grief (Cruse Bereavement Care, 2012)
Child Protection and Understanding Self-Harm (Mentor Link, 2011)
Mentoring and Befriending; Mentoring in Safety (Bromsgrove and Redditch Network, 2011)
Samaritans Initial Training (Worcester Samaritans, 2010)

Professional Membership

I am a Registered Member (MBACP) of The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) which you can check by visiting my BACP profile, where you will see my unique Registration Number: 103553.

The BACP Register is a public record of counsellors and psychotherapists who meet or exceed our recommended minimum quality standards. These standards cover training, supervision, continuing professional development and a contractual commitment to our Ethical Framework.

https://www.bacp.co.uk/membership/registered-membership/

As a Registered Member of the BACP, I abide by their Ethical Framework, and am accountable for my practice through the Professional Conduct procedures that are made available to the public. I am committed to professional development activities every year, monthly supervision, and have a duty of care towards my own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of my clients. I have Professional Liability Insurance and a DBS check (which replaced the CRB).

Usui Reiki

I am a Master Practitioner Member of the UK Reiki Federation, and abide by their code of ethics and professional standards, including a commitment to ongoing training every year. You can find out more information about the UK Reiki Federation on their website: https://www.reikifed.co.uk/

^{UK Reiki Federation Member}

Creative Counselling

To show my commitment to creative counselling and therapy, I am a member of the Creative Counsellors Community CIC, which provides a wealth of ongoing training and a community to connect with other like-minded counsellors.