Please find below a list of workshops & training programmes that can be delivered as standard or modified to meet the required needs of you or your service; bespoke programmes are also available. Whatever your needs they can be discussed during the FREE consultation and agreed upon subsequently. For information on Mindfulness and Mindfulness workshops please click on the link below.

As a BACP registered psychotherapist I am committed to the principles and values set out by their Ethical Framework; therefore it is my duty to ensure I practice safely & professionally and that all therapeutic sessions (and relevant elements of workshops & training programmes) remain private & confidential in accordance with the framework.

This illuminating programme gives rudimentary insight into how habits are formed relative to thoughts, feelings and behaviours… with emphasis on the role of the mind and it’s inextricable link to neurochemistry. It will provide fundamental knowledge aimed at empowering all who attend giving a refreshing, enhancing, life-changing approach to their understanding of this developmental process.

Bad habits such as being late or procrastinating develop over time which in turn can have a negative impact on work, study and overall life. This programme will give you understanding of the basic theory of the habit-forming process, allow you to identify your own bad habits and teach you how to break free from them through the development of simple yet positive strategies.

This workshop explores the role of food on the brain and its significance in developing and maintaining good mental health as well as physical health. Participants will learn about the foods that are essential for the brain… why they are essential… and their contribution to brain structure and function.

At the end of the session participants will gain a good understanding of the foods that are important to eat as part of a nutritional diet in maintaining a holistic healthy lifestyle. In essence this workshop truly highlights… “We are what we eat”… well at least our brain certainly is!

This presentation was commissioned and written specially to honour black history as part of a Black History Month celebratory event.

“Healing the Enslaved Mind” centres on the psychological and emotional link of slavery throughout the last 600 years on today’s contemporary Afro-Caribbean race with the aim of given enlightenment on healing the wounded enslaved mind. There is a large body of data that highlights a high incidence of mental illness amongst this population; this workshop focuses on building esteem, confidence and a strong sense of identity that maybe considered damaged due to the generational effects of what Dr DeGruy termed as PTSS… Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome!

MI is highly effective for preparing people for change. It is a brief therapeutic intervention that is goal-directed, person-centred and encourages intrinsic change (the individuals own reason for change) by exploring and resolving ambivalence in their behaviour; in other words identifying the mismatch between their current experiences and the goals, desires and/or values they wish to attain, with the aim of creating the change. The Cycle of Change model will be introduced; this highlights the six different stages individuals move through when experiencing change.

MI can be incorporated into any behavioural change including: smoking cessation, career change, commencing exercise, changing diet, abstaining from addictive substances or reducing alcohol consumption etc. All the skills learnt on the course encourage self-motivation and the ability to call upon the techniques long after the course has been completed.

The programme consists of four full day sessions delivered once a week over a 4 week period. This allows for the learning, development and practice of skills as well as the completion & assessment of homework.

Dual Diagnosis is the co-existence of substance misuse and mental health disorders. It is a highly complex syndrome in most individuals that are affected. Over approximately 50 – 70 % of substance misusers and 30 – 50% of mental health sufferers experience dual diagnosis issues.

This programme will:

• explore issues and concerns related to working with people with dual diagnosis;
• identify reasons why people with mental illness use drugs/alcohol;
• enable you to gain awareness of the nature and effects of commonly used substances;
• give a better understanding of risk in relation to dual diagnosis;
• enable an awareness of the interactions between prescribed medication and drugs/alcohol;
• give an understanding of the inter-relationship between mental illness and substance use;
• enable assessment of current & past substance use as an integral aspect of mental health assessment;
• identify barriers and aids to engagement enabling an assessment of motivation to change;
• give an understanding of the principles of matching treatment interventions to the person’s stage of change;
• utilise motivational interviewing techniques;
• enable you to set realistic and achievable goals in collaboration with client;
• identify factors which precipitate relapse and factors which help maintain change;
• and give reasons & responsibility for homework and role play (more effectively referred to as skills practice).

Due to the copious amount of material covered and the need for homework and skills practice this is a 5-day course delivered over a 2 – 3 week period.

This programme primarily offers trainees a basic understanding of substances of misuse including classification and class, how to assess for substance misuse and the treatments used in substance misuse disorders.

You will come away from the training with a more empathic understanding of the reasons why people misuse substances and a more effective way of supporting them.

This is delivered as a 1-day programme; a ½ day programme is possible in an abridged format.

“Helen has great all around counselling skills and I was particularly impressed with her knowledge of CBT and addiction related counselling theory and application.”

Some people may believe that anxiety is an unhealthy emotion classifying it as a mental health disorder. In fact anxiety, in the right context, is healthy. It is the body’s natural way of responding to danger or fear and so is therefore considered the body’s alarm and survival mechanism.

When faced with actual danger brain signals are automatically activated sending messages to the body called in laymen’s term ‘the flight or fight response’. These responses, which include increased heart rate, deep breathing, tremors, tingling sensation in the stomach, sweating and dry mouth, prepare the body to do one of two things: 1. Fight whatever has signalled the danger or 2. Run away from the stimuli signalling the danger. There can also be a third response: to simply just freeze. However anxiety disorder, which is a mental illness, relates to a person having all or most of these responses without the presence of actual danger, on a regular basis, over a long period of time. This can be of a mild to severe form and is problematic on an emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual level. It is predominantly habitual with irrational thinking patterns that lead to the body’s misinterpretation of danger. Safety behaviours are those that people use to deal with unhealthy anxiety; these include destructive coping strategies such as misuse of alcohol, drugs and medication, fidgeting, smoking, isolation, use of avoidance tactics and escape plans.

This stand-alone session will explore the links between thinking, feeling and behaviour that contribute to anxiety and related issues using the CBT 5-Areas Model. You will quickly understand that irrational thinking primarily triggers the symptoms of anxiety disorder and that a healthy, rational change in thinking will lead to comfortable feelings and healthier, helpful behaviours.

Depression affects 1 in 4 people during our lifetime… that is 25% of our population. The different factors involved in making it likely to happen include; our biological make-up, our up bringing and our reaction to life events. Depression can occur in mild to severe form affecting our day-to-day lives in terms of mood and outlook for the future. In its severity it is extremely debilitating and can lead to serious (even fatal) consequences.

In this session we will explore the basic understanding of depression: causality, symptoms, maintenance as well as treatment and management options.

We get angry for lots of different reasons related to events, experiences, our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behaviour. The question is… “why do we get angry in the first place?” Well the simple answer is… because we are human. Anger is a normal, human emotion. However it is the response to our anger that often gets us in to trouble… when it is irrational, inappropriate and unjustified.

In this eight hour training session, ran over 4 weeks, you will explore and understand the root and the triggers to your anger, discover the relationship between brain chemistry & the emotional response and develop techniques to assist in managing and maintaining healthier responses to anger.

Motivation to Vocation is a course of up to 6 sessions delivered to individuals on a 1-2-1 basis at an interval of 1 hour per week. The programme utilises motivational enhancement techniques to help you understand the mechanisms of and enhance motivation for change so you can move from your present position in employment into the desired career or profession of your choice (or dreams).

Each week addresses a different aspect of the process of motivating you for change… unlocking the ability you have within which culminates in a change plan to effectively assist you in achieving your goal. A follow-up session will give you the opportunity to address or identify unforeseen barriers to enable a modification of the plan if necessary and to support you to success.

The course is tailor-made to meet each individual need and though the initial assessment is carried out in person the following sessions can be delivered in person also, over the telephone or via video call.