Helen Drake, BSc, PGrad Dip

About me

Wanting Support? Help is at hand …

You may be reading this because you want help and support in dealing with emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety or a feeling of aloneness or emptiness. Perhaps you have reached an important turning point in your life or feel stuck in recurring destructive patterns that prevent you from feeling fulfilled. Or you may want help because you are in the midst of a crisis, for example the break-up of a relationship, bereavement or divorce. Maybe you are experiencing a loss of direction or meaning in your life?

Who am I?
Hello. I'm Helen, I'm an experienced, UKCP Registered Counsellor & Psychotherapist. Since 1998, I have been working in private practice in Chiswick, West London and see clients on an open-ended or time-limited basis, depending on what you want help with.

In addition, I have a lot of experience as a trainer and consultant and regularly lead groups for those interested in personal development. For more information about my training programmes, click here.

Prior to becoming a Counsellor and Psychotherapist, I have a successful background of 20 years experience in corporate senior management roles in the UK and internationally.

I specialise in working with trauma and in helping clients experiencing difficulties with:

Addiction

Anxiety

Depression

Low Self Esteem

Panic

Stress

Relationships and

Uncomfortable feelings

What I offer
With all my clients, I offer a supportive, face-to-face, non judgmental space to help you explore what bought you to therapy and to help you work towards greater wholeness and integration. Indeed, as a psychotherapist and counsellor, my work is deeply rooted in and influenced by my yearning for aliveness, wholeness, connection and integration.

My Approach

My approach is primarily humanistic though I am trained in a number of different modalities. This enables me to draw from the therapeutic approaches best suited to address your problems and to tailor counseling and psychotherapy to your particular needs. This means, I may use a reflective talking therapy approach including deep listening, open exploration, inter-active engagement and respectful challenge in order to help you understand how painful feelings in the present may have their roots in the past. In order to help you change your feelings, I may then use a more process, goal oriented approach, switching to pro-active techniques including possibly CBT, hypnotherapy & NLP amongst others, if appropriate.

I also work with and through the body and are respectful of how the body can have a language of it’s own, often expressed in tensions, bodily symptoms and sensations and how, when listened to with the right kind of attention, stories of loss, pain and disconnection can gently reveal themselves.

No matter what painful struggles, problems and difficulties you may be experiencing, my job as a therapist is to help awaken, foster, nourish and support the goodness and gifts that lie within each of my clients and to find ways to connect with what it means to live a truly worthwhile, meaningful, wholesome life. In summary, to help you to remember who you really are and why you’re here.