Helen Hans
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello, I’m Helen. My therapy practice is based on the principle that it's OK to admit you're not OK. In fact, seeking help is a courageous thing to do because it often goes against the grain to admit you're finding things tough.
Many people find they get the support they need from family and friends, but sometimes it's easier to talk to someone who’s outside the situation and so can stay impartial. Together we can explore the roots of your difficult feelings and work to improve both your mental health, your self-confidence and your relationships with those around you. I offer time and space to talk about whatever you want, without judgement – just empathy and understanding.
The kind of therapy I practise is a talking therapy which helps you explore the links between your past experiences and current difficulties, with a particular focus on your early relationships. These relationships are so enormously influential that reflecting on them can bring new understanding and insights to current problems.
You may simply be seeking a little guidance and may only need a few sessions to feel the benefits of talking therapy, but you can continue for as long you wish. While therapies usually work best in person, we can hold sessions over phone or video call according to circumstances or geography, or if you would just prefer that. Sometimes speaking from your own home may feel like all you can manage and that is perfectly acceptable. If you have a young baby, this may make therapy more accessible.
My aim is simply to provide you with a regular, confidential space once a week to think through and begin to make sense of what’s behind your current struggles. Fifty minutes where you are my sole focus, without any other distraction or purpose.
I work individually with adults, teenagers and school aged children. I also work with couples and/or individual parents with their babies and children. Depending on the age of the client, I draw on different techniques including mindfulness and play therapy.
Training, qualifications & experience
I trained as a psychodynamic/psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the Tavistock and Portman Clinic and at the School of Infant Mental Health in London and I provide psychotherapy services with psychodynamic principles at their heart.
I have extensive experience of working with parents of babies and toddlers and I have a Masters degree in Infant Mental Health. I am a strong believer in early intervention and supporting parents experiencing disruptions in their relationship with their baby, toddler or pre-school aged child.
I have been working with expectant mothers and fathers for more than 25 years, running groups and supporting parents on a one to one basis, too. I have also worked with parents and their babies and toddlers in the very early postnatal period for more than 20 years. I also provide therapy for school aged children, teenagers and their families.
I have a degree in educational studies and have trained practitioners working in the perinatal period both to work with groups preparing them for, and supporting them with, parenthood and also in baby brain development and Attachment Theory.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Parent-Infant relationships
Mother and baby or toddler relationships
Therapies offered
Fees
£55.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Therapists work in different ways and it’s important to find one who suits you, your child, teenager or family. For this reason, I offer a complimentary first telephone or online session where we can explore your needs and you can get a sense of whether you think we would work well together.
My fee is for a 50 minute session is £55.
Reduced rates are available for student counsellors and those on a low income.
Please note that in work with primary school aged children, I prefer to have at least two sessions with the parent/carer to get a full history before meeting the child. In my work with teenagers, a single session prior to meeting them would usually be adequate.
When I work
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Further information
Types of therapy I offer:
Brief therapy, Family therapy, Long-term therapy, Psychoanalytic, Psychodynamic, Systemic
Clients I work with:
Adults of all ages; expectant and new parents; parents with their baby, toddler and/or pre-school aged child/ren; children at primary school, teenagers, young people and families.
How I deliver therapy:
I provide in person therapy sessions in Westcliff on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and via video call and telephone on Thursdays and Fridays.
When providing therapy for parents of a child under 5, the parent/s and their baby, toddler or child to attend sessions together.
