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About Me

​Hi, I'm Helen, I am a person who is pretty focussed on joy, which might sound odd as people rarely come to therapy because life is delivering joy.  In truth we all experience challenges but I retain a defiant optimism about the possibilities we have and can create for ourselves. Life experience, understanding what my clients face in the day to day, juggling, careers, families, understanding how challenges in these areas may impact relationships, is what I do.   The huge privilege of this job is seeing the reality of the relationships when you can't hide or fake.   It's a relief to be able to be honest and not curate.

 

I am an Integrative Psychotherapist (basically this means I draw on a wide range of therapies to work in a bespoke way with every individual).  I am also a fully qualified Psychosexual and Relationship therapist because there is little more important in our lives than our relationships with those we love and care for.  Our sexual and intimate lives are often just as pivotal to our wellbeing and happiness within these relationships as our emotional lives and form part of the way we relate to one another. 

 

Whoever I am working with I have an aim to make therapy safe but also as unintimidating and accessible as possible.  My approach is to support people I am working with to explore the place in life where they are struggling, without stigma or judgement. 

 

Most people come up against issues in their lives, sexually, emotionally, relationally and try to fix it alone, often for years before deciding to ask for some help.  The truth is having space with a therapist whom you connect with and trust allows you to stand back from yourself, sometimes it is this that helps you see your own unhelpful patterns.  We explore why and where they originate and how they play out.  By really engaging with this process in therapy you can create a great difference and lasting change in how you feel about yourself, and consequently in the relationships you build.     

 

For the therapy cynics...I hear you and you are right, but you are also wrong, as I was.

 

So being candid I appreciate this sounds too easy, if only. As someone who can appreciate clients are sometimes cynical and mistrusting what I have learned is despite my own doubts of what 50 minutes in a room with a stranger can deliver, I have seen evolution and transformation too often for it to be a coincidence.  There are no guarantees, no silver bullets, rather it's a process determined by the quality of the relationship we are able to build and explore, we both have to be authentic, engaged and willing to lean in and try.  I understand it is far from easy at times but it is incredibly important.  Similarly, I am the sort of person who trusts nothing until I have seen it, I can only do what I do because of my own experience.   

 

It can take a while to find the right person to work with.   As a therapist in the therapy room I'm focussed and my focus is that you feel you are in a better place than you started in, more self aware and with tools that allow you to feel happier and more confident about what it is that you want and what you need from your relationships and life.  Good therapy can shape a new relationship with yourself and others in a new and positive way. 

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Walking Therapy

 

It's worth knowing I also offer walking therapy in Hampstead Heath, Regents Park and Hyde Park because I notice for some the change of location, may bring some closer to themselves, and at times the space feels like it lends more perspective, and a sense of liberty.  

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Background and Experience

In my earlier career, I had years of working 18 hour days, in various dynamic and challenging business roles.  I recognise what my clients are going through, enlivened and also depleted, running against a seemingly endless to do list at home and at work.  Stopping sometimes is not a feature of life.   What I have always found the most fascinating in every role has been the human relationships and dynamics because these underpin every part of our lives.

 

I have worked in the NHS as well as private practice and have experience of working with sexual and relationship issues including divorce and separation, anxiety of all kinds, OCD, loss, bereavement, depression, sexual abuse, PTSD and the myriad of ways in which not feeling "good enough" can cause problems in life and relationships. 

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I have an MA in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling and am a fully accredited member of the UKCP and abide by their code of ethics within my practice.  I am also a fully qualified Psychosexual & Relationship Therapist working with couples and individuals. 

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Logistics

 

I offer both short term counselling and longer term psychotherapy using my training in theory including, humanistic, existential, psychodynamic, attachment and contemporary theory.  My practice rooms are located close to convenient transport links in Central London W1 near Goodge St, and Tottenham Court Road and in Hampstead NW3. 

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What it's like to work with me

Director
PHD Student and Lecturer

"I will be forever grateful for my time working with Helen. Her style of therapy is refreshingly honest and unique, even at times humorous, so I was never left feeling like a stereotyped “patient on the sofa.” She is incredibly non-judgemental, patient and caring, managing to provide clarity and insight that I felt was immediately actionable after our sessions.  

 

Helen creates a compassionate and collaborative environment, which left me feeling both supported and understood. I feel a stronger sense of self and resiliency for dealing with issues in the future.

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