Hélène Demetriades
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
With twenty five years experience, I work with individuals and supervisees, offering a confidential an non-judgemental space. I am a BACP senior accredited counsellor and psychotherapist. I am also a published poet.
I see our work together very much as a collaboration, in which kindness plays a key part. I feel and explore your experience with you, so that you may feel truly met and able to relax into a sense of wholeness and safety. Traumas held within our bodies and psyches are pockets or ‘holds in time’, of unmet, unsupported, undigested life. My aim is to provide a space for these ‘short circuits’ to be re-connected, metabolised and integrated into the whole. Through gentle probing and sensitive questioning, through guiding you into a deeper experiencing of your body’s ‘felt sense’, through a sharing of insights arising between us, I aim to facilitate a deepening awareness of your own life.
I create a safe space for you to feel into your feelings, and as you meet them, you may discover a new sense of aliveness within you and your life. Feelings, once acknowledged, are self-liberating, and fuel us into greater wholeness. It is only when they are unrecognised, unmet and unloved that they trap us.
We will explore patterns of thought and belief and discover through enquiry and reflection how certain thinking processes and imprints, (conditioning), may be keeping you hostage. Old patterns can be cast aside as you become conscious of them, so that you may live from a freer, more natural state.
At times we may use meditative practices, sit in silence, and explore dreams and images. You may in our sessions also discover a stillness out of which all these experiences arise.
My non-dual perspective is one in which I recognise a ground of being which is unchanging and ever present. It is infinitely kind, and the source from which our subtle sense of existence, 'I am', is born. Drawing from this deep well of peace enables us to interact with ourselves and our environment in an enlightened, unburdened way. It is the stillness at the heart of existence. Its doorway is present moment awareness.
I work with all issues, including depression, loss and bereavement, trauma, developmental attachment issues, relationships, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, anxiety, stress, illness, abuse, addictions, work and education issues, parenting , self-development, purpose and life direction. I have also worked with a broad range of clients. I offer both long and short term work, and can also offer sessions on Zoom.
(Please see my article on Kindness as a cure for trauma and emotional pain in the Nondual Therapy Directory: https://www.nondualtherapydirectory.com/the-kindness-cure-for-trauma-and-emotional-pain/)
In my supervision practice I work with experienced therapists.
Feedback from my counselling and psychotherapy work has included:
"Hélène has helped me to make really important transformations in my life. I’ve been able to establish a deep base of trust with her, from which it has been possible to safely explore the fears and habitual reactions that have limited my life. These habits of fear and anxiety were developed over a lifetime, but Hélène's sensitivity, kindness and calm, combined with her non-judgemental insight have enabled me to make immensely significant and positive personal changes. "
“Hélène works with infinite compassion and patience, listening on levels which I could never begin to imagine myself. She becomes the most magical mirror in which I can see myself more clearly."
"I would recommend Helene to anyone thinking about getting some counselling - and I have done so to several friends already and always rave about how helpful her style of counselling has been. It is hard to quantify how important Helene's sessions have been for me personally, but all I know is that she has really helped me recognise some of my negative patterns and 'beat-myself-up' habits and helped me come out of my depression and learn to look after and love myself better."
"Over the years, Helene has skillfully guided me through some very specific events, such as bereavement, relationship issues, family traumas and work-related stress. She has helped me to 'join up the dots' between my childhood conditioning and current 'loops' and 'stories' and I feel that I know and understand myself better, without judgement or negative thought. With this gentle awareness, I have been able to move through my own fears, low self-esteem issues and energetic blocks, in order to achieve a healthier relationship with myself and others. I am now joyfully flowing with life as opposed to struggling against the tide."
"Hélène, thank you for your continued encouragement and for your incredible ability to help me to find my path in life. I came to you as a student and in a state of confusion to understand “who I am” and the world around me. You helped me to gain perspective and to propel me into a being, the person that I always have been. You are a natural healer and very intuitive. Through your warmth and compassion, you created a safe space for me to open up and speak about issues that I couldnt share with others. You have an extraordinary healing energy and you are an uplifting person to be around."
For more information about me and my practice, you may wish to go to my website: www.helenedemetriades.co.uk
Training, qualifications & experience
I gained my diploma in Psychosynthesis, (a transpersonal or psychospiritual psychotherapy), at the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust in London, in 1998. I also hold a diploma in supervision, and am a BACP senior accredited counsellor and psychotherapist. I have attended ongoing courses on the latest developments in therapeutic trauma work, attachment and neuroscience, with Bonnie Badenoch, Linda Graham, David Wallin, Janina Fischer, Juliane Taylor Shore and Somatic Experiencing with Peter Levine.
In 2022 I completed a one year facilitator's training in the Embodied Present Process with Canadian embodiment teacher and author, Philip Shepherd.
I have taken part in many spiritual retreats with teachers such as Adyashanti and Rupert Spira.
After qualifying I worked at Camden Jobtrain, a large training organisation for people with special training needs, especially young people, and long-term unemployed adults. I was responsible for initiating a counselling service here.
I also assisted on the professional training programme at the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust.
Later I worked at Goldsmith's College, part of the University of London, as a student counsellor. Here I offered individual, group therapy, and supervision for trainee counsellors on placement. I worked here for some years until the birth of my daughter.
From 1998 I have also maintained a private practice at home. I have also worked with clients through employment assistance programmes, and through BUPA.
I have worked with and trained in, trauma work, attachment, couples' work, meditation, mindfulness based approaches, dream-work, healing 
, breath work, the non-dual perspective, and self-enquiry.
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.
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
Transitions
Life Direction
Existential issues
Health
Personal Development
Parenting issues
Cultural diversity
Minority issues
Self-enquiry and Non-duality
Skype online counselling
Supervision
Couples
Therapies offered
Fees
£65.00 per session
Additional information
Individual sessions : £60+ (60 minutes)
Supervision sessions: £60+ (60 minutes)
When I work
Monday to Friday, 9am onwards.
Further information
Sessions usually last for one hour. In our first session you will get a sense of how comfortable you feel with me, and whether our work together resonates with you.
If you decide you would like to come for further sessions, how often you see me is up to you. Weekly sessions are very helpful, while some clients may choose to see me once a fortnight. At times I have seen people twice weekly, and other people monthly.
I will see people short-term, that is for a few sessions, and I will see people longer term, which can be for some years. I don't suggest a specific number of sessions and a client is free to stop coming for sessions at any time.
I live within walking, cycling and driving distance from Totnes; bus routes are nearby too.
Free parking is available on the street.
