About Carolyn
I’m Carolyn Gillan, an accredited counsellor and hypnotherapist specialising in OCD, intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Since 2008, I’ve helped people to understand the patterns that are keeping them stuck and discover different ways of responding — so more of their attention and energy can return to living a fulfilling life.
Carolyn Gillan MBACP (Accred) · MNCH (Accred)
Meet your therapist
You may already have a good understanding of your anxiety. The difficulty is that what you feel can be so convincing that it pulls you back into checking, analysing, avoiding or trying to feel certain — even when you know, rationally, that it doesn’t make sense.
Since 2008, I’ve supported people experiencing OCD, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and persistent uncertainty. I’ll work with you to build a shared understanding of what keeps your particular pattern going, then help you practise different ways of responding so that the cycle can begin to loosen.
I bring clinical knowledge and experience; you bring the lived knowledge of yourself and your life. We’ll work together with curiosity, compassion and flexibility, adapting therapy to suit you rather than forcing you through a rigid protocol.
Why I specialise
A close family member lives with OCD, including distressing unwanted thoughts and checking compulsions. I’ve seen how exhausting it can be for the person experiencing it and for the people who care about them. That experience deepened my respect for the courage involved in facing OCD, and my commitment to offering knowledgeable support.
I also experienced intense anxiety during my late husband’s terminal illness and after his death. The resilience and insight I had witnessed in clients, together with the therapeutic learning we had explored, helped me through that time. It gave me a lived appreciation of what it means to keep moving while fear and uncertainty are present.
I bring both clinical expertise and a compassionate, lived understanding — without assuming that my experience is the same as yours.
Carolyn GillanHow I work
LIBERATE is the evidence-informed therapeutic framework I developed to help people loosen the hold of fear, uncertainty and internal monitoring — and return more fully to what matters.
It integrates counselling, hypnosis, experiential learning and behavioural change. Rather than organising therapy around eliminating every unwanted thought or feeling, we create new experiences that make more room for choice, self-trust and flexible action.
Professional standards
Supporting clients since 2008 · Counsellor · Hypnotherapist · Supervisor · Author
Published work
I contributed two chapters to this collection: one on generalised anxiety disorder and another on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
View the book
My undergraduate research into group and self-help hypnotherapy for IBS was published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Read the journal article
A choice of setting
I offer face-to-face appointments in a calm, private consulting room in Plymouth, Devon, as well as online sessions across the UK. You can choose the setting that best supports your circumstances and the work we decide to do together.
Your next step
I’m not currently accepting new therapy clients. Join my priority list and I’ll contact you when I can offer a suitable new-client appointment, either in Plymouth or online. Joining the list doesn’t commit you to booking.
Join My Priority List