English-speaking counselling online for women in Barcelona

If you live in Barcelona and are looking for an English-speaking counsellor, I offer person-centred counselling online, by secure video from the UK. You book directly, sessions are £45, and you don't need to go through your CAP first. I'm a trainee counsellor and BACP student member working under supervision, and this is private counselling from the UK, not Spanish or Catalan healthcare.

Expat life in Barcelona: one resident in four holds a foreign passport

Barcelona has changed fast. On 1 January 2024, according to the city's own register, 432,556 residents held a foreign nationality, 25.4% of the 1,702,814 people living there. A third of residents, 33.6%, were born abroad, about seven times the number in 2000. Catalonia's statistics office found much the same pattern a year later: in the Barcelonès county, 24.9% of residents held a foreign nationality on 1 January 2025.

So there's a fair chance the woman next to you on the metro is from somewhere else too. That's one of the city's pleasures. It doesn't mean you have someone to talk to.

Finding an English-speaking therapist in Barcelona

The public route in Catalonia starts at your CAP, your local primary care centre. According to CatSalut, the CAP is the key point for spotting and treating milder problems such as anxiety and depression, with mental health specialists supporting the primary care teams. If you need more, you're referred on to a CSMA, an adult mental health centre that offers outpatient care to people over 18.

Using that route usually means explaining what's wrong to a GP in Spanish or Catalan, or hoping they speak English. When you're struggling, that can be enough to stop you going at all.

Barcelona also has two official languages. You might have learned Spanish carefully before moving, only to find letters, signs and some appointments in Catalan. That's a small thing until it's one more small thing on a bad week.

Private therapy in English exists in the city, paid out of pocket or through private insurance. If you choose someone locally, it's reasonable to ask what they trained in, who they're registered with, and whether they have supervision. My guide on how to find a therapist abroad goes through those questions in more detail.

I don't use Spanish professional titles and I'm not a psicóloga. I'm a UK counsellor, still in training, offering sessions online.

What Barcelona can feel like behind the sunny version

People at home have a picture of your life: the beach after work, long lunches, the light. Some of that is true. You might also recognise the less photogenic parts:

• Your work is remote and for a company in another country, so your colleagues are on a screen and your neighbours are strangers.
• You arrived with a partner whose plan this was, and you're still working out what your own plan is.
• The friends you made in your first year have mostly moved on.
• Rent takes more than you expected, and the stress of that sits under everything.
• You're pregnant or have a small child, and the people who'd normally help are a flight away.

It can feel ungrateful to say you're unhappy somewhere so many people want to live. You don't need to justify it. If the core of it is isolation, the page on expat loneliness may help. If you're the one who followed a partner here, see being an accompanying partner. The three-question loneliness test is a private way to check in with yourself, and if you're expecting or have a baby here, my pregnancy and postnatal resources list free, checked support.

How online counselling in English works from Barcelona

Barcelona is one hour ahead of the UK all year. Spain and the UK change their clocks on the same weekends, so the gap never shifts. A 10am UK session starts at 11am for you, and an evening slot at 7pm UK time is 8pm in Barcelona, which may still be before dinner.

We meet by secure video for 50 minutes. Shared flats and open windows don't always give much privacy, so it's worth finding a spot where you won't be overheard. Headphones help. Sessions are in English, and if you'd like to know how the first hour goes, read what to expect in your first counselling session.

The fee is £45 per session, charged in pounds. A limited number of low-cost places are available for students, trainees and people on a low income, and there's a 48-hour cancellation policy. Everything is on the fees page. When you're ready, you can book a session, or email hello@michellefernando.com with any questions. I reply within 48 hours.

If you're not sure online counselling is for you, the online counselling for women page says more about what to expect.

What if I don't know what's wrong?

That's a perfectly good place to start. You might only know that you've felt flat since the summer, or that you snap at your partner and don't know why, or that Sunday evenings have started to feel heavy. Person-centred counselling doesn't need a diagnosis or a neat story. We start with whatever is most present for you and take it at your pace. If it turns out you need a different kind of help, I'll say so honestly and point you towards it.

Who you'd be talking to

I'm Michelle Fernando, a trainee person-centred counsellor and BACP student member. I'm studying for an MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Keele University, I work as a placement counsellor in Shrewsbury, and I'm in regular clinical supervision. Some of my earlier training and placement work was in Sri Lanka.

I'm especially interested in how culture shapes what we think we're allowed to feel: family expectations, migration, belonging in two places at once. I won't diagnose you or tell you what to do. I'll try to understand your world as you live it. There's more on the about page.

Sessions take place online from the UK. I'm not part of the Spanish or Catalan health system, I can't diagnose or prescribe, and I'm not a substitute for local care. My fee is lower than a qualified counsellor's because I'm still in training.

When local help is the right call

If your life is in danger, call 112.

If you're thinking about suicide, call 024. It's free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In Barcelona, the Telèfon de l'Esperança also answers on 93 414 48 48.

I don't work with psychosis, eating disorders, addiction, specialist trauma treatment, couples or children. For those, start with your CAP.

My page of support services in Barcelona lists hospital psychiatric emergencies, the city's social emergency line and women's support services, with hours and languages. If you don't feel safe at home, see domestic abuse and women's safety as well. For the national picture, see English-speaking counselling in Spain and the helplines in Spain.