About me

Hello and welcome to my profile.

My name is Helen, a Cognitive and Integrative Therapist/Counsellor of more than 23 years of experience in private practice, including 15 years working within the NHS on complex mental health issues.

I am both warm and empathic towards all my clients, celebrating the fact that we are all multi faceted whilst providing a confidential, safe and caring space within which to hear of the struggles and difficulties you are facing in life.

Whilst trained in both Cognitive and Integrative Therapy skills, it is your uniqueness that matters most to me, and to that end I offer a free 15 minute assessment; not only to meet each other, but to afford you the opportunity to discover if you feel comfortable, both with me and with the therapy I am suggesting might be useful.

The decision to ask for help is often a challenging one, especially if you have never had counselling before. Not knowing what to expect, choosing a therapist is difficult enough as there are so many of us out there. Of course, as counsellors we are all different, both as personalities and in what we offer, but I am proud to say that down the years I have helped many to grow and flourish through insights into both themselves and other people in their lives.

The Way I Work.

I work both online and face to face, the important thing is to offer a free 15 minute assessment session, this is an opportunity to meet each other and find out if the therapy I offer will be a fit for you and whether you feel that you could work with me.

Online counselling is helpful if you live a distance away from my counselling room and you can have counselling in the comfort of your own home. I can see clients that want me to see me face to face for a online session as a one off if they have childcare difficulties instead of having to cancel. Also, if life gets in the way of coming into my counselling room we can change to online sessions. If you would rather see me online, you will need to download Zoom on your computer or phone, every week I send you an invitation which includes the passcode and ID for your meeting which stays the same.

I will give you my privacy notice which gives you an idea of how I store your notes along with that I will give you a How I Work Sheet, which outlines my fees and cancellations. I also need general information from you such as you name and address, contact details and GP name this for my insurance purposes.

We start with what you want help with and what you would like to get out of counselling and take it from there.

I might ask you fill out a questionnaire which is to help me understand how you feel and how you you cope with certain situations and how you feel about yourself, it is to help me no -one else will see it.

You might care to have a look at the testimonials on my webpage.

But, I do also understand how disabling it can be to find yourself in unhelpful patterns affecting your mental health. Often these are learned in childhood, whether you feel stuck or overwhelmed with painful feelings, have loss or trust issues, whatever it may be. However, we can't undo the past but we learn how to change the way we feel about ourselves. It could be that you feel rejected by others, feel the need to rescue or please people, or try to be perfect, sometimes it can feel if we are not perfect we aren't acceptable. Perhaps you have learned to deal with anxiety by isolating or avoiding, which can become very life limiting and the more we avoid or isolate ourselves the harder it is to face things.

Life can feel sometimes feel overwhelming, we are all struggling with the increase in the cost of living and it can make life a struggle. We can feel stressed and burnt out with the effort of trying to keep on top of everything. Not being able to see the way forward or experiencing numbness. It can feel that life is just flashing by and we can feel out of control believing that we aren't accomplishing anything. Sometimes it's our self esteem that is troubling us, or body image or anxiety which can affect our relationships with other people.

Some of the problems that I work with.

Self Esteem - is the way we think and feel about ourselves. This affects many parts of our lives. If we feel inadequate about ourselves it can lead us to accept unacceptable behaviour from others, which makes us feel worse about ourselves. We may have a continuous critical thoughts which can make us seek out constant reassurance from others and when we get it we often don't believe it. Sometimes lack of self esteem can mean we miss out on lots of possibilities in life because we believe we aren't good enough and we will fail.

Anxiety - is life limiting and we avoid things because we feel fearful of doing things in case they go wrong . We may have sweaty palms, feel buzzy in our heads or have a sick feeling in our stomachs. We might have social anxiety convinced that other people will find us boring or stupid, so we avoid social events. Sometimes we can dread the future or worry about things going terribly wrong. Anxiety can lead to panic attacks and a common belief of people who experience panic attacks is that they are having a heart attack, which is very frightening. Sometimes we don't really know what it is we fear we just feel anxious. Anxiety can be a normal part of live when we are taking a test or going for an interview but when have to live with it everyday it becomes debilitating.

Body Image - It's not suprising that body image makes use focus on the things we don't like about ourselves with so many images in social media that we end up comparing ourselves. It is easy to forget the whole person and we ignore the good bits ,we can feel that we don't measure up. We try to copy the images that are bombarding us with what we should look like, what we should wear, even what we should do or buy to look the same.

Relationships - Connection is part of being human and the need for love and understanding. Relationships take many forms, romantic relationships , friendships, professional relationships with bosses and colleagues. When they go wrong it can feel as if it is our fault. Even the relationship we have with ourselves can go wrong, being self critical and dismissing ourselves, or putting ourselves down to other people.

Burnout - Is when you feel completely overwhelmed and can feel there is no space in your head for anything more. The symptoms of burnout is feeling tired or drained most of the time. Feeling helpless, trapped and/or defeated. Feeling detached/alone. Having a cynical or negative outlook. It is essential to replenish your psychical and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus, by prioritising good sleep habit, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and practises that promote well-being. like meditation, journaling and enjoying nature.

Trauma - A symptom of trauma is an inability to trust others. If you have been abused or neglected, your sense of trust is understandably affected. You can develop irrational fears and become hyper sensitive. Unresolved trauma might be at the root of your anxiety. Trauma can also make you more vulnerable to developing physical health problems, including long-term or chronic illness. This might be because trauma can affect the body as well as the mind, which can have a long-term impact on your physical health.

Self Compassion - Do you need to be more compassionate to yourself? Instead of mercilessly judging and criticising yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings. Self compassion means being warm and understanding when we fail, suffer, or feel inadequate or hurting ourselves with self- criticism. It can be difficult to imagine what showing yourself kindness even looks like. Practicing may feel unnatural, awkward, and fake. But remembering what it feels like to be kind to others can make the whole process of being kind to yourself easier.

Finding a counsellor can be helpful to look at what is going on under the surface and find ways to help you makes changes. It might be changes to way we feel about ourselves that might make life feel more rewarding and to help you to feel a sense of purpose in who you are, learning to accept and value yourself.

If you recognise any of the above, maybe it's time to ask for help. Everything you tell me is in confidence. I will listen to you and will be aware of the courage it has taken you to ask for help.

I hope this has been of value to you and encourage you to look at my web page.

I am presently taking on new clients and look forward to hearing from you if you feel that I might be helpful.

Training, qualifications & experience

Registered Member of BACP
Accredited Cognitive Analytic Practitioner
DACT Cognitive Analytic Therapy
DAC Diploma in Addictions Counselling
Diploma Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy
Diploma Addiction Counsellor

Member organisations

Accredited register membership

Areas of counselling I deal with

Therapies offered

Fees

Free initial in-person, telephone or online session

Concessions offered for

Students

Additional information

Please contact me to discuss fees.

I offer a 15 minute free online or phone assessment.

I can be flexible with my working hours. I offer appointments from 9 - 6pm. I work Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

When I work

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night

I can be flexible with appointment hours, for example, I could do 6.30 instead of 6 if that is what you prefer.

Further information

I am very experienced in a wide range of mental issues and have worked both within the NHS and in private practice for 25 years.