Hilary McNair

Daytime sessions available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. 8 am sessions are available, which may be helpful before you start work. In-person, online, and email counselling offer flexibility.

Finding the right therapist can be challenging. I offer a calm, supportive space at your pace. With years of experience, I listen closely and work with you to make sense of things, so change feels possible and safe over time.

How Counselling Can Help

Life can feel overwhelming and isolating at times. While talking to friends may help, some issues feel too personal to share. Speaking with a qualified Counsellor in a non-judgemental space offers support and new perspectives. Counselling lets you explore your feelings and find hope for moving forward.

About Me

I'm Hilary McNair, and I have over sixteen years’ experience supporting people through counselling. I believe having someone who listens in confidence can bring clarity and help you cope better with challenges.

You bring your own wisdom and life story, while I bring my training. Together, we build trust and work as a team to address challenges and find healing. True understanding and acceptance can be deeply restorative.

I hold an honours degree in counselling and co-founded Counselling World, where I train other counsellors. I am also qualified in spiritual accompaniment. Find out more at hmcounselling.org.

If you feel ready for the next step, I’d be happy to discuss how counselling could support you.

How I work

Welcome to a therapeutic space where your wellbeing is at the heart of our work. I offer an integrative approach to counselling, deeply rooted in Gestalt principles, designed to help you gain greater self-awareness and unlock new possibilities for change. Gestalt therapy encourages us to look at the whole person, exploring your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to uncover patterns that may no longer serve you. Through this holistic perspective, you are gently guided to recognise unhelpful habits and empowered to make choices that support your growth and healing.

My working style is warm, flexible, and tailored to your needs. You can choose from a variety of session formats: in-person meetings, phone calls, Zoom video sessions, or email counselling—whatever suits your lifestyle and preferences. For those who find comfort in the outdoors, I offer Walk and Talk therapy, where we connect in nature and embrace the healing energy of the environment. You are also welcome to share your journey with Oscar, my certified therapy dog, whose gentle presence brings an extra layer of support and reassurance.

Alongside counselling, I provide spiritual direction for those seeking deeper meaning or guidance on their spiritual path. Whether you wish to explore life's big questions or simply need a safe, supportive space to talk, I am here to walk alongside you. For further details or to arrange a session, please visit my website: hmcounselling.org 

What to expect:

It is sometimes hard to take the first step in asking for counselling. It may feel difficult to verbalise your problems. I know what a struggle this can be from my own experience of being a client. Do feel free to email me for more information or phone me to ask more questions. Sometimes it can feel safer to start by emailing or phoning with your questions anonymously, without any obligation to take things further.

At our first meeting you would be able to find out what you want to know about myself, my approach and my experience, to see if this is what you are looking for. You would be able to share what it is that brings you for counselling. It won't matter if you feel muddled about how you put this across, or if you feel very emotional. These feelings are quite normal. You will have the opportunity to share with me what you hope to get from the counselling process and I will tell you what I can offer you. You would be able to decide whether or not you would like to continue working together and we can discuss how many sessions would be appropriate for your needs.

Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

My approach to supervision is one of equal, shared cooperation, looking together at the best ways of helping clients move forward, ethically. I aim to provide a safe space for reflection and challenge. I see feedback as a 2-way process - me providing feedback to you on your work with clients and you providing feedback to me on the helpfulness of my supervision style. I aim to support you in developing your unique counselling style. I am experienced in couple therapy and outdoor therapy. I hold a L5 certificate in counselling children and young people. I am trained in working with spirituality in the counselling room. My training and experience has also covered online (Zoom, email, text) and telephone counselling.

I am also a counselling trainer and a founding partner of Counselling World (www.counsellingworld.org) and offer CPD courses which you may be interested in.

I am a qualified spiritual director and also offer supervision in this field. See more at herewearetogether.org.

I enjoy working creatively with supervisees, thinking outside the box to explore counselling relationships. The supervisory relationship is also important to me and I aim to share a safe space where you can off-load and think about self-care to prevent burn-out.

We can explore together how you and your clients are relating. Is there any transference? How do you think your client sees you? How do you see them? When appropriate we can unpick which issues belong to yourself and which to your client, looking at issues of difference and sameness.

Supervision is a space to also conceptualise client work through the lens of the theories which you follow, so gaining further understanding of the possible journey ahead. We can try out interventions in our session, which you might then want to take into your client work.

Ethical dilemmas are often brought to supervision. We can look at these together in the light of the ethical framework which you adhere to.

www.hmcounselling.org

Our first session is an opportunity to see if we are a good match as well as asking questions about the way I work.

I look forward to hearing from you.