Victoria Gilbert Counselling
Like many neurodivergent people, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in my teens. School was a struggle, and for a long time, I didn’t understand why things felt harder for me than for others. Through my GP and my own wish to understand myself better, I explored a range of therapies: talk therapy, CBT, DBT, long-term and short-term. These experiences taught me what it meant to be the client, and, over time, I found myself wondering what it might be like to sit in the other chair.
In my late twenties, after a lot of personal work (and plenty of reading), I decided to take the leap and train as a counsellor. I graduated in 2025 with a BSc in Humanistic Counselling. During my training, I learned about a range of modalities, attachment theory, working remotely, and, perhaps most importantly, a lot more about myself. I also had the privilege of volunteering in two placements: one supporting clients with a variety of presenting issues, and another for women experiencing domestic abuse.
Since graduating, I have begun volunteering with an LGBTQIA+ charity in London while continuing to grow my private practice.
My Story
I am a bisexual cisgender woman, and I use she/her pronouns. I have openly identified as bisexual since I was 15, and it’s been an important part of my identity ever since. Being a bisexual woman can sometimes mean having my sexuality invalidated or treated as a novelty. At times, I’ve felt less deserving of belonging in queer spaces, or like the ‘token’ queer person in straight environments. These experiences have given me a deep understanding of what it feels like to exist in between, to not be one thing or the other, but to hold many truths at once, and how confusing and painful that can be.
The LGBTQIA+ community is incredibly important to me. I feel a deep sense of safety and joy when I’m around fellow queer people, and one of my aims as a counsellor is to give some of that safety and joy back to my community through my work.
My Queer Identity
I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 2022. For most of my life, I felt different from those around me and couldn’t understand why certain things seemed to come so easily to others. Receiving my diagnosis helped everything begin to make sense. It allowed me to forgive myself for not fitting the mould, and to start embracing the parts of my neurodiversity that make me who I am.
Before my diagnosis, I had already spent years learning about ADHD, particularly how it presents in AFAB people. Afterwards, I continued to explore neurodiversity more broadly, deepening my understanding of how these traits and experiences can show up in so many unique ways. I’ve always found myself drawn to neurodivergent people, and vice versa, which is why my practice naturally centres around supporting neurodiverse people, along with the LGBTQIA+ community.
My Neurodiversity
