Helping you handle life and loss
One-to-one counselling & psychotherapy,
in person in Norwich/South Norfolk and online,
for adults navigating trauma, grief and big life changes.
I can help you to:
reduce overwhelm
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ease anxiety
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untangle confusing emotions
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process trauma
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cope with grief
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navigate change
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understand yourself better
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reduce overwhelm • ease anxiety • untangle confusing emotions • process trauma • cope with grief • navigate change • understand yourself better •
Hi, I’m Helen
I help people handle the hard parts of life and the pain of loss. I’m a Counsellor & Psychotherapist specialising in trauma, grief and supporting clients through big life transitions.
Before setting up my own therapy practice, I worked in a trauma-focused counselling service in Glasgow where many clients had histories of complex trauma, abuse and addiction. I also worked in a hospice, supporting individuals facing life-limiting illnesses or providing pre- and post-bereavement counselling to their family members.
I love the work that I do.
There’s something very special about being invited into another person’s inner world and being trusted to hear their story - especially those parts never shared before - and to help hold their pain. I don’t take these responsibilities lightly.
Despite tending to hard and heart-breaking aspects of life, there are many moments of deep meaning and joy in the counselling room too.
I can support you through:
Trauma
I work with many individuals who have lived through physical, emotional or sexual trauma, particularly abuse and neglect during childhood. Sometimes trauma stems from specific harrowing incidents, but often it’s a more subtle accumulation of smaller hurts, threats, exclusions or breaches of trust.
If you identify with anxiety, people-pleasing, not believing that you are enough, parenting your parents, pushing down your own emotions and never quite feeling completely safe or at ease, I may be able to help.
Grief
You may be reeling after a bereavement and feel lost, angry or numb. If you’re finding it hard to function in daily life, struggling with indecision and poor concentration or worried that your brain is no longer working properly, please know that all of these are common symptoms of grief.
I support people through grief associated with death, as well as grief from other kinds of loss, including relationships, jobs, pets, fertility or health.
Big Life Changes
Starting or ending a relationship, moving house, emigrating, rethinking your sexual or gender identity, becoming a parent, changing career, retiring, confronting health challenges or disabilities – any one of these will test you. Dealing with more than one at once may quickly become overwhelming.
I can help if you sense a big shift coming, or feel the urge to burn things down and start again. Or maybe that’s the last thing you want but everything is tumbling down around you and you need some assistance to find your footing.
“Counselling helped me tackle the issues that I just couldn’t seem to solve myself. I feel like I trust myself more than I used to. I’ve also found myself opening up more to close, safe friends about issues which I previously avoided because of fear. Talking about these things first with you gave me the words and the framework to talk about the specific things that I struggle with.” Adrienne, 20
My Approach
I’m trained as a Person-Centred therapist. If you haven’t heard of that term, don’t worry! It basically means that I’m guided by what you, as the client, want to focus on. My job isn’t to tell you what to do, it’s to help you to figure out what feels right for you.
I begin with the belief that everybody is able to change, heal and flourish in the right conditions, so we’re aiming to reduce or remove the barriers that are getting in the way of you feeling better.
We don’t follow a set structure in sessions but work in a flexible way. We’ll focus on building a relationship that feels warm and supportive and pay close attention to the emotions that come up for you. I draw on somatic body-based approaches and, as an IFS-informed (Internal Family Systems) therapist, I do a lot of ‘parts work’ with clients. If you resonate with having different sides of yourself that often pull in opposite directions, squabble inside your head or prompt you to act in ways that don’t always make sense, this could be a sign that we’d be a good fit!
What happens in a session
Working together takes the form of a conversation in a calm, unjudgemental atmosphere. We go at your pace and you’re always in control of what we do and don’t discuss. I'll listen, ask questions, offer reflections and help you develop a deeper understanding of yourself.
We’ll likely incorporate some body awareness, and possibly some psychoeducation about your emotions, brain and nervous system. I’m a yoga teacher (and Grief Yoga teacher) too, so if some gentle movement or breathing and grounding exercises feel beneficial, we can integrate these into the session. Or, if you’re someone who likes to be busy with your hands, there’s scope to use art or craft materials while we talk.
Client feedback
“I loved talking outdoors, which I felt gave me a sense of freedom to open up, as if I had to burn off some existing tension by moving before sitting down on the park bench.” Luna, 48
“I found connecting with my inner child and the introduction to IFS/parts work incredibly helpful in being able to separate my true self from my reactions to situations or events. My ability to cope with issues has drastically increased since the start of counselling sessions. I do not feel as overwhelmed or hopeless when faced with adversity as I did when I began.” Kat, 27
“Most helpful to me in our work together was your wonderful balance of professionalism and friendliness, your strong communication and honest feedback and your gentle challenging to aid me in expressing my emotions and physical responses to them. Our work together was the scaffolding which supported me to build resilience and create new thinking pathways. You earned my trust and were very much an ally in my journey. I think what I valued most was your empathy and ability to make me feel safe.” Sarah, 69
“I felt really understood in quite a fundamental way. I think I have become much more acutely aware of what I actually like and don’t like. Somehow I feel much less like I need to improve, or prove myself to others.” Andy, 33
now offering Therapy Intensives
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now offering Therapy Intensives •
Therapy Intensives
Does your schedule make regular appointments difficult? Have you found you were just warming up in a counselling session and suddenly it was time to end? If you’d like to make progress more rapidly than weekly sessions allow, Therapy Intensives might be for you.
Think of these as an extended therapy appointment where we do a few sessions-worth of work in a single day. This format can be an efficient way of working, enabling us to reach greater depth and cover more ground in a short time.
My half-day intensive packages include a pre-intensive planning session in advance and a follow up appointment afterwards. We cover the equivalent of six weekly sessions but in a more compressed timescale. Longer intensives are also possible.