Helping Retail Professionals Thrive.
With nearly 30 years in the retail industry and advanced training in CBT and REBT, The Retail Therapist offers professional, confidential therapy that understands the retail world. Whether you’re feeling burnt out, under pressure, or stuck in self-doubt, I’ll help you build resilience, regain clarity, and move forward with purpose.
Support Tailored to
Retail Professionals
Are you feeling trapped and struggling to see the way forward, or a way out, and the only option seems to be taking time off sick? There is an alternative that will change everything alongside being at work. If you are already off work then I can provide you with the tools and techniques getting you back to a healthy relationship with work, those at work and your career.
The Retail Therapist is a specialist therapy service offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tailored to the unique pressures of working in retail. It was founded by Richard, an accredited therapist with nearly 30 years of experience in the industry. The service provides confidential, flexible online support to help you manage stress, overcome burnout, and restore your wellbeing, wherever you’re based in the UK.
A Therapist Who’s
Been Where You Are
“Before I became a therapist, I spent over 25 years working in the retail industry — leading teams, facing daily pressures, and experiencing first-hand the toll it can take on your mental health. That insight shapes everything I do today.
As an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, I combine professional expertise with lived experience to offer therapy that truly understands your world. My goal is to give you a space that feels safe, practical, and rooted in real understanding.”
Richard Palmer, Founder - The Retail Therapist
Is The Retail Therapist for you?
Do you feel constant pressure to deliver more, increase sales, higher profit, lower costs? Maybe you are struggling with challenges of leading a team and feel alone or exposed? Unhealthy beliefs and negative self-talk are sabotaging you; we can change this and you can be free of the to see the true reality and take pragmatic action.
Perhaps you have a constant fear of losing your job or being “performance managed”; does it feel like everyone is out to get you? I will help you escape these thoughts so it’s not a self-fulfilling prophecy and you see the way forward clearly.
Are you tired of receiving no praise or recognition and the ever-changing priorities mean it seems you never seem to achieve anything? Perhaps you just can’t get on with the style of leadership you are subject to. Imagine using this to your advantage to thrive.
Our personal and work lives are inextricably linked, they often unhelpfully impact each other. My work is centred on you as an individual so whether your challenges are personal, professional or an entwined situation of both.
I will work with you to resolve what lies at the heart of it.
How It Works
Everything is tailored to you — but here’s what a typical journey looks like
1. Initial Consultation
A one-to-one session to explore your challenges, goals, and what you need from therapy.
2. Structured Sessions
CBT and REBT-based sessions with clear goals and space for flexibility.
3. Tailored to Retail
Therapy shaped by real-world retail experience and the demands you face every day.
4. Online and Flexible
50-minute sessions delivered securely online, wherever and whenever suits you.
Professional, Accredited, and Trusted
Richard is an Accredited Registrant Therapist (MNCPS Acc.) with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, listed on the UK’s Accredited Register. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Integrative CBT/REBT, graduating with distinction from Regents University London.
His work has been recognised for both technical skill and therapeutic presence. A recent review described his style as:
“Positive, open, encouraging and down to earth, with an approachable presence. From the outset we see a client that is at ease with their therapist and who is reaping the benefits of this relationship.”
Richard’s practice is fully confidential, ethical, and client-centred.
Book a consultation for free and see if it’s right for you.
There’s no commitment, pressure, or obligation.
Testimonials
“I don't know when the change happened!
When I came to Richard I saw no future, I was full of regret, I was depressed.
It was after a couple of months I came to therapy and told him I suddenly felt free, released, and had a completely new energy for my future.”
“Richard has been one of the most important people in my life.
We only worked together for 12 sessions so this may seem strange to say, but the positive change he has brought about in my career and personal life has changed everything.”