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

Are you needing some peace and calm from the struggles in your relationship?

Are you looking to discover a way through the crisis or change in your life?

Perhaps one of the following describes 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

Changes are a natural part of life. Some changes you hope for and welcome into your life. A fulfilling relationship, a satisfying career, a comfortable home - these things can bring you feelings of peace and fulfilment.

Sometimes things don't work out as planned. You start to struggle in your relationship, you lose your job, you suffer a bereavement and a life change becomes an unwelcome life challenge. You are left feeling confused and maybe hopeless. You are finding it difficult to make everyday decisions. You feel out of control and that makes you anxious; you have trouble sleeping - and getting up - everyday life feels like a struggle.

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

You can contact 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 a 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.

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.