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The Farley
Private Therapy for Burnout, Stress, Anxiety & Emotional Disconnection -
In Southampton and Online Across the UK
You’re still showing up.
But inside, you feel detached. Drained. Disconnected.
Burnout. Anxiety. Stress that keeps your system on high alert.
You’ve carried it alone for so long, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Client Testimonials
Start Here
Start Here
Is Therapy Or Counselling At The Farley Right For Me?
From the outside, it can look as though you are coping. You keep going, meet what is expected, and carry on with your life.
But internally, something has shifted. You may feel flat, drained, or disconnected from yourself, as though you are moving through life without fully being in it.
For some, this builds gradually, until even ordinary life starts to feel heavier than it should. For others, it becomes noticeable more suddenly, when the ways you have always managed no longer hold.
What You Might Notice
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Emotional disconnection or numbness
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Burnout and long-term overwhelm, including high-functioning burnout
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Anxiety that does not switch off, or a low mood that lingers
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Chronic stress showing as irritability, tension or exhaustion you cannot shake
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Loss of identity, direction or meaning, especially after years of adapting to others
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Finding yourself on the edge of certain groups or environments
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Repeating patterns in relationships or behaviour that leave you unseen or frustrated
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People-pleasing, perfectionism and hidden overwhelm
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A sense that something is missing, even when life looks “fine”
What Therapy At The Farley Feels Like
I’m Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, a Person-Centred Counsellor and Psychotherapist in Southampton. I offer private counselling and psychotherapy in person and online across the UK for adults experiencing burnout, stress, anxiety, or emotional disconnection, and provide embedded employee counselling for organisations seeking consistent, confidential support for their teams.
My role is to stay with you in what feels difficult, unclear, or hard to put into words, so you don’t have to manage it on your own.
The work we do together is person-centred, relational, and reflective. Sessions focus on looking closely at what is happening, rather than moving past it or trying to manage it. This includes noticing patterns in how you think, respond, and relate, and taking the time to understand them properly.
There is no pressure to perform or have everything figured out. We start with what is present, and work at a pace that feels manageable for you.
How We Can Work Together
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In person: private practice in Shirley, Southampton
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Online: secure, confidential sessions UK-wide
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Session length: 50 minutes, short or long term depending on your needs
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Employee counselling: embedded, person-centred support for organisations and their staff
You do not need to have this fully figured out to get in touch. If something here reflects your experience, we can begin with a simple conversation.
About The Farley
About The Farley
I am Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, a Person-Centred Counsellor and Psychotherapist (MBACP Registered Member, 405143) and founder of The Farley. I am based in Southampton and work in person and online with clients across the UK.
Many of the people who reach out to me are carrying more than anyone sees. They keep going, meet demands, and hold things together, yet internally they often feel worn down or disconnected. Some describe moving through life on autopilot. Others speak about burnout, low mood, or a growing sense of losing themselves.
You may usually experience yourself as thoughtful, capable, and composed. But lately, that steadiness may feel harder to hold on to. The more you push through, the further away you may feel from yourself.
Over the years, I have worked with adults from many walks of life: professionals experiencing burnout, business founders under high pressure, creatives, carers, and deep thinkers. What they often share is a struggle that is not always visible to others, but experienced as deeply personal, sometimes including a sense of not fully belonging or feeling at ease in their lives.
My Approach To Therapy
My work is grounded in Person-Centred therapy and supported by training in relational, trauma-informed, and somatic perspectives. I provide a consistent therapeutic space where your experience is explored with care and professional attention. Rather than applying techniques or formulas, I work with you directly, paying close attention to your individual process so that what is happening can be understood more clearly and worked through at a pace that feels manageable.
This is a space where you can arrive as you are, even if you do not have the words yet. Some people feel unsure what they will say. Others feel everything all at once. Both are welcome.
How We Can Work Together
My private practice is based in Shirley, Southampton. The space is calm, private, and set up to support focused, uninterrupted work. I also work with clients across the UK via secure online sessions.
Alongside one-to-one therapy, I offer embedded employee counselling for organisations. This gives staff consistent access to a dedicated counsellor, with a focus on meaningful, confidential support within the workplace.
You are welcome here, whether you are feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or simply need space to make sense of what is going on. Therapy at The Farley offers the opportunity to slow things down, understand your experience more clearly, and begin to feel more like yourself again.
Services
Services
Individual Counselling & Psychotherapy
I offer weekly, 50-minute counselling & psychotherapy sessions for adults, in person in Southampton or online across the UK.
Sessions offer a private, steady space to look more closely at what is happening for you, rather than trying to push past it or manage it alone.
We take the time to understand your experience properly, including the patterns, pressures, and ways of coping that may no longer be working, so that something more grounded and sustainable can begin to emerge.
Areas I work with include:
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Emotional disconnection or numbness
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Burnout and long-term overwhelm, including high-functioning burnout
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Anxiety that does not switch off, or a low mood that lingers
-
Chronic stress showing as irritability, tension or exhaustion you cannot shake
-
Loss of identity, direction or meaning, especially after years of adapting to others
-
Finding yourself on the edge of certain groups or environments
-
Repeating patterns in relationships or behaviour that leave you unseen or frustrated
-
People-pleasing, perfectionism and hidden overwhelm
-
A sense that something is missing, even when life looks “fine”
Location & Format
In-person: My private practice in Shirley, Southampton
Online: Secure, confidential video sessions across the UK
Session Length: 50 minutes
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: Short or long-term
Fees
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£65 per session (before 5pm)
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£70 per session (after 5pm)
I am a recognised provider with WPA and Vitality Health Insurance. If you are covered by either insurer, you may be able to claim for your therapy sessions. Please check your policy details and request a pre-authorisation code before we begin.
For Organisations
Alongside individual work, I also offer embedded workplace counselling for organisations. Employees meet with the same BACP-registered therapist over time in a confidential setting that remains independent from HR and management.
Being embedded means:
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A familiar therapist is present in the working environment, so approaching support feels natural rather than formal or distant.
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Over time, I build a working understanding of the culture, language and pace of your organisation, so employees do not need to re-explain the context of their work each time.
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Boundaries are clear; clinical independence is maintained, but the therapist understands enough of the day-to-day reality to make support relevant and safe.
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Each person is met as an individual, not a role. Sessions attend to the whole human experience - emotions, stress, relationships and personal history - rather than focusing solely on performance or workplace issues.
Sessions can be on-site, online or hybrid, arranged to fit the rhythm of your team.
Learn more about in-house employee counselling.
Still unsure?
If something here reflects your experience, you are very welcome to get in touch. I offer a free 30-minute initial consultation video call so we can see whether this feels like a good fit.
Contact Us
Say hello
I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly or request a call back:
esther@thefarley.co.uk
Request a call back
11 Norfolk Road, Southampton, SO15 5AT,
United Kingdom
Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Background
In order to provide you with the best service possible we need to hold your personal contact details and, in some cases, the records of your therapy sessions. This privacy notice tells you what we will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after therapy has ended. Your privacy is very important to us and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to The Farley. We adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR) and the United Kingdom's retained version of the GDPR as implemented by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
We also adhere to the ethical guidelines regarding protecting client privacy and confidentiality set by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
When you contact The Farley through the enquiry form or via email, the personal information you provide will be used to respond to your enquiry and arrange an initial consultation where appropriate. The Farley uses Calendly to manage appointment bookings. When you book a consultation through the website, your name and email address are processed through Calendly in order to schedule the appointment. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you understand how I handle your data.
Lawful basis for holding and using your personal information
The GDPR states that we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which we are processing your data. If you have had therapy with Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, and it has now ended, she will use legitimate interest as her lawful basis for holding and using your personal information. If you are currently having therapy with Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, or if you are in contact with The Farley to consider therapy, we will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract. The GDPR also makes sure that we look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to The Farley appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for us processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case therapy sessions) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between you and The Farley).
The Farley will retain your name, your email address, your phone number and the dates when you entered and finished therapy on our system for up to two years of the date when you finished therapy.
Information we record
The information we request from you may include personal information, such as your full name, your phone number, your email address, your GP details, and your date of birth. We may also ask for sensitive personal information, such as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or beliefs, and information relating to physical or mental health.
If you are currently having therapy with Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, The Farley will also hold information such as anonymised therapy session notes, anonymised risk assessments and safety plans.
How we use your information
The Farley will never use your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of the therapy service provided to you i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments. We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary. This is in line with guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The personal information we collect about those who use our services is used to provide the services requested and to operate our business efficiently. We use it for billing, identification, authentication, service improvement, research, and for contacting you when necessary.
After therapy has ended: There are reasons why we might be required to keep records after your therapy has ended. For example, in the case of financial transactions personal information must be retained for as long as legally required in respect of tax or accounting purposes. In case of therapy with Esther Dietrichsen-Farley, retaining your therapy notes ensures that we can continue to offer you an efficient service if you make contact after therapy has ended. Your therapy notes do not include any personal details that could be used to identify you and continue to be stored securely on our password-protected computer equipment for two years after your therapy has ended. Two years after therapy has ended your therapy notes will be confidentially destroyed.
Your personal details form is confidentially destroyed on ending of your therapy sessions. Please note that we need to keep a record of your name, date of birth, email address and your client reference number for two years after your therapy has ended. Your client reference number corresponds with a client reference number on your therapy notes and therefore enables us to identify your therapy notes if necessary.
Third party recipients of personal data
We share a limited amount of personal data with third parties in order to provide our services to you and to fulfil legal obligations in respect of tax and accounting purposes. For example, our accountant is permitted access to my invoices. The Farley also uses Calendly to manage appointment bookings. When you book an initial consultation through the website, your name and email address are processed through Calendly in order to schedule the appointment. We will never pass on your contact details to any third-party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research.
Data security
We take the security of the data that we hold about you very seriously. Our email account is password protected and mobile phones and laptops used to respond to your emails are password protected and have anti-virus software. Any email correspondence will be deleted within six months if it is not necessary to keep it. If you contact The Farley but do not proceed with therapy, your enquiry emails will normally be deleted within six months unless there is a legitimate reason to retain them.
Information Sharing
We may disclose personal information when we believe it violates our Terms of Service, when it is required to assist with a lawful investigation or comply with the law, if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, or if some or all of the assets and operations of our business are or may be transferred to another party.
If we believe that you or others might be at risk of harm, we reserve the right to share your personal information without your consent with either Police Service, Ambulance Service, Fire Service or Social Services.
We will not sell, rent or share your personal information with third parties in other ways without your consent unless we are entitled by law to do so.
Website visitors
When you visit this website, certain information may be collected automatically through cookies and analytics tools. Should you choose to contact me using the enquiry form on the website none of the data that you supply will be stored by the website or passed to any third-party data processors. Instead, the data will be collated into an email and sent to me over the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP servers are protected by TLS (sometimes known as SSL) meaning that the email content is encrypted before being sent across the internet. The email content is then decrypted by local computers and devices.
The website uses cookies and Google Analytics. Almost all websites use cookies which are small files that get put on your computer by websites as you surf them. These cookies can store lots of information which can have privacy implications. Google Analytics is a service provided by Google that gathers anonymous data on how people are using websites and then provides visitor statistics, details of page views, etc. This service is used by many website owners as the data helps website owners to improve their websites. If you wish to change your cookie settings then you may do so through most browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
In many cases the cookies are used to generate identical information to Google Analytics and indeed use Google Analytics, so opting-out of Google Analytics will also opt you out of these cookies too. You can opt out of Google analytics and other Google services here – http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and https://www.google.com/dashboard/.
When you email us
The Farley uses Google Mail to supply our email service and Wix to host our website, including the online enquiry forms. Both companies are required to be compliant in protecting your data.
We also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.
Your rights
Under GDPR, 2018 guidelines you have the following rights: The right to request access to the personal information that we store and process about you. You can ask for corrections to be made to the information held or for your personal information to be deleted. You can also ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of it altogether in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters. If you would like to make a request relating to any of the rights above, please send a request in writing by emailing to esther@thefarley.co.uk. Please be aware that in certain situations counsellors may be unable to comply with the above requests. For example, if compelled to retain the records by a court of law. Please also be aware that there may be a charge for complying with a request if it is deemed to be excessive in nature.
Queries
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person or organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is Esther Dietrichsen-Farley and she is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the way in which we handle your personal information you can contact her via email at esther@thefarley.co.uk.
Access and Correction
You can request access to personal information we hold about you. We will provide this except in the limited circumstances in which we are permitted not to.
You may request that I correct personal information I hold about you that is inaccurate or out-of-date. If you request that I delete your personal information, I will take all reasonable steps to do so unless I need to keep it for legal purposes or for other exemptions to the right to erasure in GDPR Article 17(3).
Complaints
If you have a complaint about how we handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch by email to esther@thefarley.co.uk. If you want to make a formal complaint about the way we have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. The data controller is Esther Dietrichsen-Farley and she is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office: the registration number for Mrs Esther Dietrichsen-Farley is ZB661500. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Changes to privacy notice
This privacy notice may be updated from time to time, so please check occasionally for any updates.
The Farley
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