Helen Downs, NCPS

Helen Downs is a counsellor registered with NCPS and has seven years' experience in clinical practice. She works with adults on problems including stress, anxiety, addictions, LGBT issues, trauma and abuse, and anger. She also helps with relationship and family concerns, grief, sleeping and eating problems, and career pressures.

Helen uses a mix of talking therapies and hypnotherapy in her work. She draws on client-centred methods to listen and clarify what matters most. Cognitive behavioural tools are used to identify patterns of thought and behaviour that keep problems going.

She has experience supporting neurodiverse people and has worked in prison services. That background means she is familiar with addiction, ADHD, and complex life situations linked to the criminal justice system. She also often addresses attachment, abandonment and control issues in her sessions.

Sessions focus on clear, practical steps as well as deeper emotional material when needed. Helen uses DBT skills for managing strong emotions and psychodynamic ideas to look at repeating patterns from the past. Hypnotherapy is available as an additional option for people who find that approach helpful.

Her approach is straightforward and goal-oriented. Conversations aim to reduce immediate distress and build skills for coping with triggers, anger and relationship strain. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule a first session.

How Helen uses therapy approaches online