Helen Key
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This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
I love people – their diversity, quirks, their stories, their triumphs, and failures. I will never get tired of humans and what makes each one of us so unique.
I didn't set out to be a counsellor; I worked for nearly 20 years in the travel industry and ended up in a stressful management role that eventually affected my health. After taking a bit of time off I decided on a career change and initially trained and worked as a reflexologist. This led to an increasing interest in what shapes us to be who we are and how we manage our lives daily.
Since qualifying in 2008 I have not looked back and know I am truly in the profession I was meant to be in. I feel privileged when people share their lives with me and honoured that they trust me and the therapeutic relationship we build.
I use an integrative counselling approach, which has a basis in humanistic/person centred practice. This means that I might use a variety of methods, theories and techniques such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Solution Focussed Brief Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and Transactional Analysis. This integrative framework and my experiential training enable me to work in a way appropriate to your needs and covering a wide range of issues.
Counselling can help resolve difficulties by developing awareness and understanding, opening up new creative possibilities and making change possible.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a particular interest in substance dependency and eating disorders and I was employed in the field of addiction for many years. I am experienced in helping clients with a wide range of difficulties. People seek therapy for a variety of reasons:
- Support for eating disorders - binge eating, failed dieting, food cravings, bulimia and anorexia.
- Alcohol and drug misuse and addiction.
- Trying to manage a relationship difficulty with a partner, parent or child.
- Experiencing anxiety or panic attacks.
- Self-esteem issues or a lack of confidence.
- Feeling stressed.
- Suffering from depression.
- Trauma and dissociative identity disorder.
I am a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accredited counsellor and I am committed to providing counselling in a safe, confidential and non-judgemental environment. As a registered member of the BACP I am bound by their code of ethics and practice.
Qualifications and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses:
- Advanced Diploma in Relational Supervision (2020)
- Mindfulness: What It Is, Where It Comes From, and How to Practice It (CPD 2019)
- Caring for Gender Nonconforming Young People (CPD 2018)
- Treating Intrusive Thoughts and the Inner Critical Voice (CPD 2018)
- Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance (CPD 2018)
- TA 101 (2018)
- Practitioner Skills for the Management of Obesity (CPD 2009 and 2018)
- Advanced Diploma in Practitioner Skills for Eating Disorders (2009 and 2018)
- Brain and Behaviour: Regulating Body Weight (CPD 2018)
- Foundation Training in Working with Sex Offenders (CPD 2017)
- Working with Dissociative Disorders in Clinical Practice (CPD 2017)
- Child Sexual Abuse: Hope for Healing (CPD 2016)
- CBT Boot Camp 2.0 (CPD 2016)
- Working with Relational Trauma: Dealing with Disorganised Attachment (CPD 2016)
- Trauma Dissociation and Recovery (CPD 2015)
- CBT for OCD (CPD 2015)
- Beginning, developing and strengthening the way we work online (CPD 2015)
- Trauma and the Body: Somatisation and Dissociation (CPD 2015)
- Counselling confidentiality, data protection and access to records (CPD 2014)
- Introduction to Therapeutic Supervision (CPD 2013)
- CBT Coaching – How to Stick to a Diet (CPD 2013)
- Disrupted Attachment, Destructive Behaviours (CPD 2012)
- Working with Complexity (CPD 2011)
- Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy – Depression and Beyond (CPD 2011)
- The Impact of Working with Trauma and Abuse (CPD 2011)
- Royal College of General Practitioners Management of Alcohol Problems in Primary Care (2010)
- Nutritional Interventions for Eating Disorders (CPD 2009)
- Working with Anger (CPD 2009)
- South Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board Identifying and Responding to Families Experiencing Domestic Abuse (2009)
- Level 5 Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (2008)
- Royal College of General Practitioners Management of Drug Misuse Part 1 (2007)
- South Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board Child Protection Level 1 (2007)
- Advanced Certificate in Counselling Skills (2006)
- Intermediate Certificate in Counselling Skills (2005)
Member organisations
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
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.
The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society
This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations.
In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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.
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
£50.00 per session
Additional information
Sessions are 50 minutes long and the fee is £50.00.
When I work
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Monday - Thursday 9am to 5pm.
Appointments can be by telephone or online via Zoom and email if you have concerns about meeting in person or don't live locally to me.
Further information
Away from my practice I enjoy walking, particularly near the sea and travelling the world.
