Helen Darling

My name is Helen Darling I am an Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, I qualified with a distinction from Roehampton University in 2010. I have spent the last 11 years working as a student counsellor and Wellbeing Manager at Goldsmiths University where I offered short term and longer-term interventions to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. I wrote and ran workshops on numerous topics such as Managing Anxiety, Finding Your Voice and Procrastination. I also worked at The Royal College of Art as a student counsellor and have my own private practice.

Before I retrained as a counsellor, I managed bars and restaurants in London where I learnt that human beings come in all different guises, yet all share the same wish to feel whole, to feel loved and live an authentic life. As a counsellor my aim is to allow others to find ways of articulating those things that leave us feeling split and separated from ourselves and others.

That through finding new ways to articulate old feelings we are able to re-integrate the parts of ourselves that we might have neglected and learn to address these more challenging aspects of the self with compassion.

I see my approach as truly integrative, not only integrating different theoretical approaches but integrating myself into the therapeutic relationship so that I am able to offer whatever is required in the moment. If anxiety levels are so high or low mood is so extreme that it acts as a barrier to being able to engage in counselling, I might offer some CBT type interventions in the first few sessions in order to help find strategies to manage these intense feelings so that engagement is possible on a deeper more relational level going forward.

A strong therapeutic relationship forms the basis of any other interventions, these might involve recognising patterns developed in order to avoid distress or defence mechanisms created in order to cope that are no longer useful and keep us stuck. My aim is to un-stick, to learn to tolerate distress in new more adaptive ways and to find an internal strength that will last well beyond the end of therapy. Sometimes it only takes a little movement to allow a big transformation.