Helene Baker

When you work with me in counselling supervision, you can expect:

Support in developing insight and competence with your client work

Space and encouragement to develop your internal monitor

Sustenance through all stages of client relationships

Space to describe and unfold your evolving theoretical model

Opportunities to explore your work with differing client needs

Space to safeguard integrity and creativity in your client work

My Approach

I believe that a healthy and supportive relationship between counsellor and supervisor is essential for safe, aware and creative client work. It is important to me, in working as a person-centred counselling supervisor, that the counsellor experiences:

Deep and sincere appreciation of their intention when working with a client. This includes valuing their personal meaning and sense of their own work.

Safety to express fears, doubts and difficult feelings arising from their client practice, to help with exploration of 'blindspots' and potentially harmful dynamics in relationships with clients. A relationship in which the counsellor can feel free to express experiences and their related emotions.

Openness, interest and creativity in the supervisory relationship for exploring thoughts and ideas. A space to wonder and experiment.

Questions, challenges and enquiries about their practice. A trust in the supervisor's committment to safeguard the ethics of the work.

Congruence in the perceptions and reactions of the supervisor. A relationship which can be experienced dynamically and through which the counsellor can develop trust and awareness.

I have been working therapeutically with adults and children - individuals, couples, and groups - for nearly 30 years. I studied at the Lincoln Institute for Psychotherapy and the University of London before setting up a private counselling practice. My interest in our human experience - what makes us who we are, and what goes on between us - goes back a long way.

As a counselling supervisor, I trained with Cascade Associates. I have worked as group supervisor with MIND and the City Lit and currently offer individual supervision to both trainee and experienced counsellors.

I have helped to set up counselling services in organisations working with substance use and 'mental health'. I have provided counselling support for clients in these organisations and emergency therapeutic support for staff.

As well as my private practice, I have worked as a Senior Counsellor for Caris Bereavement Service in Islington and have previously facilitated counsellor diploma and certificates at Renew Training/Anglia Ruskin University, City Lit and Lambeth College. I am a visiting lecturer for the BA(Hons) Counselling & Psychotherapy at Renew.

As an Accredited Member of the National Counselling Society (NCS), I work in accordance with their guidelines for ethics and good practice. I am a registrant of their Accredited Voluntary Register. I am a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and a member of the The Person-Centred Association (TPCA).

I have just completed an MA in Trauma Studies at the University of Nottingham

If you are needing some peace and calm from the struggles in your relationship

Or looking for a way through the crisis or change in your life

One of the following may describe you:

You're struggling to cope with a crisis, a trauma, or a life change

You frequently have feelings of anxiety and panic

You feel sad and hopeless about the loss of your relationship

You argue constantly with your partner and others around you

You feel trapped by familiar and unwanted relationship patterns

You are longing for a sense of meaning and purpose in your life

Working with a counsellor or therapist, in couples counselling or individual therapy, you can:

Find some peace and calm from the struggles and stresses in your life

Recognise the strength you've had to get you this far and discover new ways of encountering your present difficulties

Be more accepting of yourself and your feelings

Learn more about yourself and what you want out of life

Discover the choices you have available to you and the inner strength to make them

My approach to counselling is person-centred. I believe in our capacity for growth and self-healing - and our unique and creative ways of expressing this capacity. My intention is to fully understand you and your meaning, within your individual life experience and context. This means I bring empathy and acceptance to our relationship - and myself as a real and present companion.

You can book a session with me by completing the secure contact form. I aim to get back to you within 2 working days – often sooner – although I may take longer at busier times.

Or you can message me for an introductory Zoom or telephone conversation. This is an opportunity to find out what's on offer and for any questions you have about how therapy with me works, and to talk about practicalities. There is no charge for this.

Taking a step further, we can arrange an initial appointment. This will be a counselling session, and also an opportunity for you to decide whether or not more sessions would be helpful.

If we decide to continue, I usually suggest an initial 3 to 4 sessions before committing to a longer working relationship, if required. For specific issues, brief and focused therapy may be an option. For deeper, more complex exploration as well as for continued support and personal development some people choose ongoing sessions.