About Helen
Helen Downs helps people dealing with stress, anxiety, addictions, trauma and abuse, and issues around identity including LGBT matters. She also supports those struggling with low self-esteem, grief, intimacy and relationship concerns, sleep and eating problems, parenting strain, anger, and career pressures. Helen has a background in working with ADHD and compassion fatigue as well as bipolar and depression.
She works in English and accepts clients from outside the United Kingdom.
How Helen works
She brings seven years of professional experience and holds the NCPS credential. Her practice includes hypnotherapy alongside talking therapies. Sessions emphasise clear, easy-to-follow conversation and practical steps people can try between meetings.
Helen aims to create a respectful and sensitive space for people to talk openly about setbacks and hopes. Her approach rests on getting to know what matters to each person. She listens, reflects, and helps shape realistic goals.
Techniques draw on client-centred listening, cognitive work to challenge unhelpful thoughts, and skills drawn from dialectical behaviour approaches to manage intense emotions. Helen has worked with neurodiverse people and within prison services, gaining experience with complex cases that often involve addiction and mental health concerns. That experience informs a non-judgemental, pragmatic style that values small changes over time.
People who start with Helen can expect a collaborative process. Together they review what helps, try out new ways of coping, and adjust the plan as needs change. The aim is steady progress toward greater wellbeing and clearer direction.
Helen lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Helen works with
The areas below are the ones Helen selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | NCPS |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 7 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapeutic approaches and online working
Client‑centred therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person without judgement, helping people find their own solutions and build confidence. Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviours interact and teaches practical strategies to manage anxiety, low mood, or unhelpful habits. Dialectical behaviour therapy, or DBT, offers skills for managing intense emotions and improving interpersonal effectiveness when feelings feel overwhelming.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and suggest which methods to try first. This is a collaborative process and plans are adjusted as progress and needs become clearer.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet. Video calls let people have face-to-face conversation when visual cues help. Phone sessions work well when video is impractical or bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging suit shorter check-ins, written reflection, or times when typing feels easier than speaking. These options make it simpler to fit sessions around work, caring responsibilities, or travel commitments.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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