Helen James
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
“I believe the more we can learn to spend time with the non-glossy, imperfect, messy versions of ourselves, the more we can discover our capacity to accept, adapt, release and grow. Sometimes it’s the mess that makes us.”
This Messy Life Counselling provides a place of safety when your world feels upside down. If you find yourself trying to make sense of something that feels difficult, human to human we can work on it together.
I’m an integrative counsellor, which means drawing on different therapy approaches that are tailored to you and what you need. It might mean exploring relationships with others, with yourself or to the past to help you make sense of what’s going on.
The process of counselling is often organic, uncomfortable and messy. It can often give you a different answer to the question you started with. From my experience as both client and counsellor, I think it’s a wonderful thing.
Training, qualifications & experience
I’m a fully qualified and experienced therapist, a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and a member of the British Menopause Society (BMS).
Many things have contributed to who I am as a counsellor today. My corporate career has shown me the rewards of supporting people through change. I was a Samaritan for 12 years – here I witnessed the capacity of humans to find strength even in the darkest moments. My passion for understanding the relationship between our bodies and minds reminds me that if we stay curious and open, we can keep transforming. This is my hope for you.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£70.00 per session
Further information
I currently offer video counselling by Zoom or telephone counselling. Counselling sessions are usually weekly, on the same day and at the same time, lasting 50 minutes.
Most people work with me on an open ended basis, but some clients find starting with a fixed number of sessions helpful. This is something we can agree together at the start and reassess regularly as your counselling progresses.
