Kim Rutherford
Psychotherapist, Mental Wellbeing Consultant, and Creator of the 8Wise® Method
Psychology-led support for the overloaded mind.
Kim Rutherford
Psychotherapist | Coach | Author | Speaker | Wellbeing Consultant | Creator of the 8Wise® Method
Helping people build healthier minds, stronger resilience, and sustainable wellbeing through the 8Wise® Method.
Helping you manage the life events that lead to overwhelm
A psychology-led life management specialist helping high-performing professionals manage pressure, regain clarity, and get back in control of their lives.
Who I work with
I work with business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs who are dealing with the impact of ongoing life pressure, the kind that builds over time and starts to affect how you think, feel, and perform.
When pressure builds, overwhelm increases and mental capacity reduces. That’s when things start to feel harder than they should, burnout, anxiety, low mood, and a sense of losing control often follow.
My work helps you understand what’s actually going on beneath the surface and get back into control, calmly, practically, and in a way that holds up in real life.
A lot of the people I work with are neurodivergent, often late-diagnosed or self-identified, and are navigating the process of finally understanding how their mind works, and what they need to function well in both life and work.
Who this work is for
This work is for you if:
You’re juggling a lot — work, life, responsibilities — and it’s becoming too much to manage
You’re making decisions all day, and your brain is hitting a limit, leaving you overwhelmed, even by things that used to feel manageable
Your mind doesn’t switch off. Overthinking, replaying things, struggling to switch off, leaving you feeling mentally drained, no matter how much you rest
Your focus, motivation, or energy have dropped, and you don’t feel like yourself (irritable, anxious, or low mood)
You’re either burnt out, or heading that way and starting to feel concerned about your mental health and wellbeing, and know something needs to change
For some people, this also includes being neurodivergent. Diagnosed, self-identified, or questioning, and trying to understand why things have felt harder than they should, and what actually works for you.
You don’t need to have everything figured out....You just need a place to start.
An Introduction to Kim Rutherford & The 8Wise® Method
A Bit About Me
I’m the Founder of 8Wise and Creator of the 8Wise® Method, a psychology-led, pragmatic system designed to help people manage life more effectively and improve mental health and wellbeing as a result.
My work sits at the intersection of psychotherapy, education, and real-life application, supporting individuals, organisations, and professionals to navigate the pressures of modern life with greater clarity, structure, and control.
Before retraining as a psychotherapist, I spent over 20 years working in people development across education, housing, employability, and health & social care.
The 8Wise® Method
I developed the 8Wise® Method to provide a structured way to understand and manage life. Rather than focusing on one issue in isolation, it looks at the full picture, how different areas of life interact, and where pressure is building.
8Wise helps you:
Understand the pressures affecting your life
See the bigger picture across key areas
Reduce your overwhelm and mental load
Build effective and sustainable mental capacity
Manage life more wisely, before crisis
This is not about becoming a different person. It’s about understanding how your life is currently working, and making it more manageable in a way that fits you.
Next Steps
Everything I do is grounded in the 8Wise® Method, giving you a clear, structured way to understand your mental health and wellbeing
I support adults and professionals who are experiencing stress, burnout, emotional overwhelm, identity challenges, or neurodivergent-related difficulties — helping them improve their mental fitness, emotional regulation, and self-understanding so that life feels more manageable, grounded, and fulfilling.
Whether you’re:
Navigating burnout or emotional overload
Going through a period of change or loss of direction
Struggling with anxiety, stress or low mood
Dealing with identity, self-esteem, or neurodivergent-related challenges
Feeling mentally exhausted or stuck
I provide structured, psychotherapy-informed support using the 8Wise® Method, a practical framework for developing healthier minds and stronger wellbeing.
For those in leadership, entrepreneurship, and education, I also offer specialist support around the psychological demands of responsibility, decision-making pressure, and emotional load, helping leaders and organisations develop cultures of psychological safety, resilience, and sustainable wellbeing.
an introduction to Kim
I’ve been supporting people for over 20 years, working with adults and professionals who want to understand themselves better and feel more in control of their emotional and mental wellbeing.
As the Creator of the 8Wise® Method and Founder of Dalton Wise Consultancy Ltd, home of 8WiseED®, I use a straightforward, honest approach, combining practical therapy tools, emotional support, and easy-to-apply strategies that really make a difference.
I work with people one-to-one, and I also support leaders, workplaces, and organisations with wellbeing, resilience, and mental health strategies, helping teams create healthier working cultures where people feel supported and able to thrive.
If you want to know more about why I do this work, you can read that here: Click Here
HOW I HELP
I support people who are struggling with stress, anxiety, burnout, emotional overwhelm, identity challenges, or neurodivergent-related difficulties, helping them build emotional resilience, feel more in control, and experience greater wellbeing day-to-day.
Whether I’m working with someone one-to-one, offering guidance to leaders, or helping organisations improve staff wellbeing, everything I do is based on the 8Wise® Method, a practical, grounded approach that helps people understand their mental health and strengthen their emotional toolkit.
Here’s how I support different people:
Individuals — to manage stress, anxiety, emotional overload, and life challenges
Leaders & professionals — to reduce overwhelm, build resilience, and cope with responsibility
Workplaces & teams — to create healthier, more supportive cultures where people feel valued and able to thrive
When we look after our minds, we don’t just function better, we feel better, communicate better, and live better.
WHO I WORK WITH
I work with individuals, professionals, and organisations who want to feel better, think clearer, and improve their emotional and mental wellbeing, whether personally or in the workplace.
For Individuals
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, burnt out, emotionally exhausted, or like you’ve lost your sense of self, I’ll help you understand what’s happening internally and build tools to feel calmer, stronger, and more grounded
For Leaders & Professionals
If you’re managing high-pressure responsibilities or supporting others, leading to decision-fatigue and emotional overload , I’ll help you manage pressure, reduce burnout, and protect your wellbeing while navigating your role. We’ll work on resilience, boundaries, and balanced leadership.
For Organisations
If your workplace is struggling with stress, low morale, emotional exhaustion, or unclear wellbeing approaches, I can support you to create healthier cultures where people feel supported, valued, and able to thrive, not just get through the day.
For the Education Sector
Through 8WiseED®, I work with schools, colleges, and universities to support staff wellbeing, strengthen leadership resilience, and build healthier environments for both staff and students, in line with real-world needs and sector expectations.
THE 8WISE® METHOD
The 8Wise® Method is the approach I developed to help people understand their wellbeing in a clear, structured, and practical way. Instead of guessing what’s wrong or feeling overwhelmed by emotions, 8Wise® gives us a framework to see why we feel the way we do and what we can do to feel better.
It looks at eight areas of wellbeing that are all connected and influence our mental and emotional health. When one area is strained, the others are affected and when we strengthen them, life feels more balanced, grounded, and manageable.
For Individuals
8Wise® helps you understand what’s out of balance in your life, uncover the root causes of stress or emotional strain, and build healthier habits that support real, lasting change
For Organisations
8Wise® helps workplaces understand the impact of emotional load, communication, pressure, culture, and workload and supports leaders in creating environments where people feel psychologically safe, valued, and able to thrive.
Whether you’re working on your personal wellbeing or improving wellbeing in your organisation, 8Wise® gives us a shared language and a clear roadmap for making positive change.
I AM THE FOUNDER OF
Dalton Wise Consultancy
Supporting executives, business leaders and professional practitioners to manage the challenges of a high pressure role and demand life, through counselling, coaching, business mentoring, and training.
Centre for Bariatric Support
Supporting Bariatric patients manage life after weight loss surgery or injections to achieve their desired goals, through coaching, counselling, training and online resources.
8Wise™
8Wise™ is a psychological methodology that helps you heal from the past, overcome the stresses of the present and create effective tangible strategies for managing future challenges so you can thrive in life, in business, in your career and in your relationships.
FAQS
What do you Charge?
All one to one services have a single session fee and concessions for block bookings.
Counselling sessions range from £70 to £100 per 60-minute session.
Coaching sessions cost £120 to £225 per 60-minute session.
I require 48 hours’ notice to change or cancel an appointment; otherwise, full payment is due.
How will I know if you’re the right person for me?
Finding the right therapist and coach that ‘fits’ you is essential. I offer a free 30-minute introductory online session via Zoom. This gives you a chance to talk about your difficulties, ask any questions you may have and work out for yourself what you want to do next. I can also assess if I have the right skills to support you.
How do I know you are qualified and safe to work with me?
I’m a qualified therapist: I have a Diploma in Psychotherapy, a Diploma in Personal Development Coaching and a Degree in Criminology and Psychology from the University of Liverpool.
I am committed to good practice. I am a registered member of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. As recommended by my regulatory body, I engage in regular supervision with a Clinical Psychologist, as well as continuing professional development and I abide by their ethical codes.
I’m fully insured and hold an enhanced DBS certificate.
How do I arrange an appointment with you?
Fill in an enquiry firm. I will respond within 24 hours, providing my availability.
You choose the best time and date got you to have your initial free 30 minutes Introductory session. I send an email confirmation with your Zoom link. At the end of your Introductory session, if you choose to schedule in sessions we book them then, a payment link with confirmation is sent to you. When we have our initial online session, we will discuss the timings of our ongoing appointments. I offer appointments between 8.30am and 6.30pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
How many sessions will I need?
This varies from person to person. It depends on what you bring. I offer both short (6 weeks to 6 months) and long-term therapy (6 months to a year, or several years).
I usually suggest to people that if you choose to work with me, let’s agree to work together for six sessions in the first instance. At that 6th session, we can review our work together and decide what happens next.
I feel better so how do we finish?
This is up to you, as we work together we will always be talking about and reflecting on your progress. Ideally, when it’s time, we can talk about how we end our work together. This can be by agreeing to end after a particular number of sessions.
Another option is to reduce the frequency of our work together.
How often do my sessions need to be?
For Counselling I recommend weekly or fortnightly sessions reducing to monthly sessions as we move towards ending our work together.
For Coaching I recommend fortnightly or monthly sessions, reducing to quarterly sessions as we move towards ending our work together.
Where do you work?
I work online using Zoom.
For coaching sessions we can negotiate sessions at your place of work or a venue of your choice. Please be aware due to travel this may incur additional costs.
What about Confidentiality?
I take your confidentiality very seriously, and this will be discussed at our first meeting.
How do we communicate in between sessions?
For counselling you can contact me via email.
For coaching you can contact me via email or WhatsApp.
Can I follow you on social media?
Please feel free to follow me on any of my public platforms: Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Can I access your other products and resources?
For all 8Wise products please go to www.8wise.co.uk
For bariatric specific products and services please go to www.centreforbariatricsupport.com
For services specific for executives, senior leaders and business owners please go to www.daltonwise.co.uk
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© 2026 Kim Rutherford Official. Part of Dalton Wise Consultancy Ltd. Registered in England & Wales: 08355495
8Wise® is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.