Background

Having grown up in Suffolk, Helen has lived in a variety of locations across England and internationally, including Norwich, Bristol, Oxfordshire, and Huntsville, Alabama. She has also spent time volunteering in a physical rehabilitation centre in Cambodia.

In the past five years, she has put down roots in Cornwall, where she is raising her two young children.

Helen is a keen traveller and has explored a range of countries, including Japan, Malaysia, North Africa, USA and across Europe. She has a strong interest in different cultures and perspectives, and values how diverse life experiences shape our attitudes, behaviours, and individual journeys—including her lived experience as a military spouse—an awareness she brings into her work.

Outside of her professional role, her interests include walking in nature with her dog Hendrix, paddleboarding, kayaking, card making, singing, and playing the guitar.

Helen’s interest in health psychology was sparked in 2006, when, following the completion of her undergraduate psychology degree, she undertook volunteer placements at a physical rehabilitation centre in Cambodia and a brain injury centre in the UK. Through these experiences, she witnessed the quiet strength of psychological resilience and how it can gently support recovery, help people adjust to life-changing conditions, and nurture overall wellbeing.

Experience

Helen has over 10 years of clinical experience supporting individuals with emotional difficulties across NHS and private healthcare settings, alongside additional experience in public health and the charity sector. Alongside her clinical work, she has experience in teaching and training both healthcare and non-healthcare professionals, including delivering evidence-based interventions for sleep, with particular experience in menopause-related sleep disturbance.

She has conducted psychological research across a range of areas, including weight loss surgery and postnatal health and wellbeing interventions, and has worked as a lead evaluator on a government-funded active travel pilot, contributing to the design, delivery, and evaluation of evidence-based initiatives.

Helen has consultancy experience delivering a health and wellbeing needs assessment for the Cornwall farming community. This work involved understanding the unique challenges faced within the sector, gathering and analysing data, and contributing to the development of targeted, evidence-based recommendations to support health and wellbeing.

Education & Professional Registration

• Postgraduate Diploma in Health Psychology (Professional Practice)

  • UWE Bristol | 2021 – 2024

• MSc Health Psychology (Merit)

  • University of Bath | 2013 – 2015

• BSc (Hons) Psychology

  • University of Reading | 2002 – 2005

• HCPC Registered Health Psychologist (Registration number: PYL048150)

• Full Member, British Psychological Society (FMBPsS)

Additional Training

• PGCert Low Intensity Psychological Therapy – Anglia Ruskin University

• PGCert Clinical Supervision – University of Exeter

• ACT for Managing Chronic Pain

• Compassion-Focused Therapy (Perinatal)

• Qualitative Research Methods – Bristol Medical School

Associate Psychological Therapist

Helen works in collaboration with an Associate Psychological Therapist, Francesca Smith, who offers additional therapeutic support.

Helen met Francesca while working together in the NHS in Norfolk in 2009, and has continued to hold her in very high regard ever since. Francesca is an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapist accredited by the British Association of Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), with extensive experience supporting individuals to process and heal from trauma and distressing life experiences. Her approach weaves together Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), EMDR, and EMDR informed by both Attachment and Internal Family Systems (IFS) approaches.

Helen is committed to ensuring that each client’s needs are at the heart of all clinical decisions, and she only ever signposts to therapists who share a similar ethos of care, compassion, and clinical integrity.

She feels genuinely privileged to be able to signpost clients to Francesca's care when their needs are better suited to her areas of expertise.

In Francesca's words:

"My approach is gentle, pragmatic, and grounded in compassion. A core part of the work involves helping people regulate their nervous system so they can feel safer, steadier, and more grounded in daily life. I draw on a range of therapeutic approaches to offer deeply personalised therapy, tailored to each individual’s needs and pace."