I'm Zara O'Brien, a psychotherapeutic counsellor, researcher and parent carer, with experience across counselling, health and social care, NHS and voluntary settings.

My main professional practice is O'Brien Psychology, where my work focuses on the psychological impact of life transitions, including trauma, displacement, disaster, changes in identity and belonging, and life's milestones and unexpected turns. My doctoral research explores the experiences of Ukrainians displaced by war, deepening my interest in how people make sense of profound change and navigate disrupted lives.

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The Children's Psychology Hub is a different, more personal strand of my work. Supporting children and young people has always been a particular passion of mine, especially those navigating health conditions, disability, difference, bereavement or significant life changes.

There is something especially meaningful to me about working with children and young people: being alongside them as they make sense of their experiences, discover more about themselves and find their own ways through difficult times. Being invited into a part of their story, and having the opportunity to support them along the way, is a privilege I value enormously.

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I love finding creative, engaging ways to make psychological ideas accessible beyond the therapy room, giving children and the adults around them practical tools to explore feelings, understand experiences and navigate challenges. Alongside developing these psychoeducational resources, I reserve a small number of clinical appointments each week for direct work with children and young people.

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For me, these two parts of the Hub belong together: making psychological understanding accessible to more children through resources, while also offering individual therapeutic support to some of the children and families who need it.

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If you'd like to learn more about my wider clinical, research and professional work, you can visit O'Brien Psychology.