Life in and around the City moves at pace.
Your days may be spent meeting the demands of a high-pressure role, holding things together for colleagues, clients or family, with little room left to attend to yourself.
The line between work and home is rarely a clean one — the pressures of the office follow us home in the evening, and worries from our personal lives sit quietly with us at the desk.
Over time, that carries a cost, even when everything looks well managed from the outside.
There are many reasons for seeking therapy, but the first step can feel daunting. You may feel vulnerable and reluctant to reach out. Or perhaps you’re in the habit of managing very well on the surface while pushing your anxieties out of view.
Psychotherapy with Helen Greaves
Whoever you are and however you’re coping, or not coping, I provide a warm, non-judgmental space where you’ll be helped towards a better understanding of yourself and your circumstances. We all have the capacity to change, to make a difference to our lives, to heal. And when we see ourselves clearly, we make ourselves stronger and free to choose.
Issues I work with:
Low Mood, Anxiety and Depression
Many people live with daily anxiety, depression or low mood. These distressing feelings, often well hidden, can interfere with our lives, making it hard to fully connect and thrive personally or professionally.
If you are impacted by any of these issues, I can help you uncover what lies at the heart of it. This awareness gives us agency and creates opportunities for happiness and ease in daily life.
Relationship dynamics
You may be dating or wanting to date, or you may be in a relationship and feel stuck. You may feel that you could be happier and more fulfilled but don’t know how to get there. You may have experienced gas-lighting or ghosting and be reluctant to trust again. There are so many issues that can impact our relationships from abortion, miscarriage and infertility to loss, infidelity and betrayal.
I work with issues arising from the demands of our closest relationships, whether that’s an imbalance of power, co-dependency, lack of trust, loss of self, loneliness, or a sense of living inauthentically. Through developing awareness of ourselves and our own behavioural habits we open opportunities for better communication and understanding with others.
Navigating your creative life
As a former BBC producer, I understand the particular stresses of leading a creative life and the tension between private and professional worlds. You may struggle with self-belief, or with the loneliness of the freelance world. You may fear exposure, feel undeserving of attention or be in the habit of undermining your own efforts. Whatever is getting in your way, I can help you find balance and unpick obstacles to your self-expression.
Shame
Shame thrives in silence. Many of us live with the background hum of hidden shame, whether induced by past trauma, sexual abuse, neglect or rejection, or self-induced by our own critical voice. Shame may have been used as a disciplinary tool and activated by parents or authority figures at school or boarding school or by a partner in an abusive relationship. Living with shame is not an inevitability. It can be shifted and our burden made lighter. Therapy is something that can make a huge difference in this area.
Family dynamics: Parenting
Wherever you are on your parenting or caring journey, whether you’re caring for a newborn, toddler, pre-teen, adolescent or navigating the complexities of a relationship with an adult child, I can offer support and bring perspective.
I’m a mother and a step-mother. I understand how parenting can impact our sense of worth, can alter our self-image, can trigger emotions and bring historical grievances into the present. Some of these problems may seem intractable, but there is so much we can do to alleviate the stress, address past wounds and create a fresh perspective.
Family dynamics: Our parents
There are many stages in the parent/child dynamic and many factors that impinge on that relationship. Some of us will have been raised by emotionally immature adults and feel the impact of that on our current lives. You may be in a co-dependent relationship with a parent. You may have grown up fast, lack trust, be in the habit of ignoring your own needs, or feel responsible for others’ happiness. Whatever your age, therapy can help release you from old patterns and open new possibilities for personal growth and happiness.
Caring for others
Some of us are carers by choice and others find themselves in that role by circumstance. If you are living with or caring for someone with complex needs such as an addiction, eating disorder, mental illness, physical illness or dementia, you may find your own needs are not being met and your sense of self is diminished.
I understand the particular constraints of this role. I can offer a place for emotional support and private expression, a chance to reflect on your relationship to the cared-for person, manage your anxieties and gain a fresh perspective and balance in your life.
Bereavement, grief and loss
Loss changes the landscape of our lives. How each person experiences grief is unique to them, but whatever your experience, bereavement makes a profound impact on us. It represents change we didn’t want or ask for but change we must negotiate.
Navigating the loss of someone close to us, whether a partner, family member or friend can mean dealing with issues from the past, guilt, regret and loneliness. I can help you process your complex and conflicting feelings as you begin to adjust to a new reality and start to reshape your life.
Whoever and whatever you are grieving, I can help you process your complex and conflicting feelings as you begin to adjust to a new reality and start to reshape your life.
Taking the first step
Whatever has brought you here, and however long you’ve been managing on your own, you don’t have to keep carrying it unexamined. Making time for yourself in the middle of a full and demanding life isn’t an indulgence — it’s how we stay well enough to meet everything else. If any of this resonates, I’d welcome the chance to talk.
You can text, email or call me to arrange an initial chat or meeting – it’s a chance for you to get a sense of me before any commitment is made.
My approach
I’m open, warm and non-judgmental. I aim to understand the world from your perspective and bring to your attention issues and patterns of behaviour you might not be aware of. It’s a process of discovery.
Effective therapy starts with a good relationship between client and therapist. My work is collaborative and inclusive. I won’t suggest you lie on a couch. I won’t quote theory at you. My starting point is what’s happening in the here and now. I work transparently. Our sessions are a journey that we embark upon together. At times you may feel challenged, but I will always be on your side.
At its best, therapy can be genuinely life-changing, and because I’ve experienced that myself, it’s what I want for my clients.
Background and qualifications:
I’ve worked with a diverse range of clients of every age in private practice and for the NHS, providing long-term and short-term therapy, online and in person. I have a degree from The University of Manchester, a Diploma in Counselling Skills from The Mary Ward Centre and a post-graduate Counselling Diploma from The Gestalt Centre. In an earlier career I was a BBC producer and screenwriter. I’m fully insured, in supervision and a member of BACP.
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy 412650
Next steps
If something here resonates with you, the next step is to email or text me. I’m happy to chat on the phone in advance of a first session so you can get a sense of who I am.
Contact:
Practicalities
I offer long term and short-term therapy. I work in person at City Therapy Space on Thursdays between 12pm and 5pm and The Barnsbury Therapy Rooms in Islington on Tuesday mornings, 7am-11am, and Wednesday evenings, 5pm-9pm and online.
I currently have some space at City Therapy Space on Thursdays between 12-5pm and limited online sessions.
Rates:
I offer a 20 minute session in person or on the phone so we can get a sense of one another ahead of any commitment. Rates beyond that are £75 – £90 for 50 minutes.
Sessions:
Psychotherapy sessions at City Therapy Space:
Thursday
City Therapy Space
33 Furnival Street, London, EC4A 1JQ
Directions to City Therapy Space
Psychotherapy sessions at Barnsbury Therapy Space:
Tuesday & Wednesday
Barnsbury Therapy Space
144 Liverpool Road, London, N1 1LA
Directions to Barnsbury Therapy Space
