Here, you’ll find heartfelt testimonials from individuals who have embarked on their journey towards personal growth and emotional well-being with my counselling and therapy services in Surbiton.

I take great pride in fostering a safe, supportive, and empathetic environment where clients feel heard, understood, and empowered to navigate life’s challenges through counselling and therapy. As you explore these testimonials, I hope you gain a deeper understanding of my commitment to helping individuals, couples or families, live happier, more fulfilling lives.

“Helen is a warm and empathic counsellor who really helped me with a number of issues I was having. Her non judgmental approach meant I found her very easy to open up to. If you are looking for a counsellor I would recommend Helen.”

Sarah K – 5 Star Google Rating.

“Helen Ross has been a professional rock in my healing journey. Working with her in a very personable, customised and above all human way, I was able to connect with every strategy or tool she gently guided me to use. After 3-4 years, I have reset to find myself in a much more hopeful position. Helen’s practical, optimistic and empowering approach enabled me to trust in the process and take that leap of faith…”

D Dabbous – 5 Star Google Rating.

“Helen is an attentive and caring therapist. She is highly qualified. She is a great listener and offer as sympathetic and non judgemental ear. I would recommend her to anyone!.”

A Beason – 5 Star Google Rating.

“My sessions with Helen have helped me work through issues in a warm and welcoming environment. She is very easy to talk to, provides great insight and gives great guidance, allowing you to face and explore any issues in a safe space.”

K She – 5 Star Google Rating.

“Helen is an empathic and accepting counsellor. Her therapeutic space is warm, welcoming and feels very safe. She is strong in really helping to identify the difficulties you face and provide support. She has a lot of experience and knowledge in many areas in particular anxiety, addiction, bereavement, depression and family dynamics. With Helen you feel heard, understood, accepted and fully supported.”

Maggie W – 5 Star Google Rating.

“Good listener, very friendly and welcoming. I had multiple sessions and returned when I felt I required I needed further sessions due to life changes.”

L.S. – 5 Star Google Rating.

“I’ve seen Helen for a couple of sets of sessions to deal with family relationship issues and I would wholeheartedly recommend her approach. She was a great listener, sympathetic and genuinely cared about helping me reach a positive outcome. She also on occasion was open to sharing her opinions and to challenge some of my assumptions which was actually very helpful.” Surbiton

“Helen is an exceptional therapist – I’ve tried so many things to help rid my alcohol dependency – from the AA to hypnotherapy, but working with her led to the first time I was able to get my drinking under control. I’ve achieved so much in a short space of time and I’ll always be grateful for her help and support.” Surbiton

“Helen immediately put me at ease when she welcomed my wife and I into her home. She was understanding of our situation and genuinely sought to try to help us reconcile. As we spoke, she listened carefully, tried to find common ground and always suggested ways to try and move us forward. A counsellor I would highly recommend”. Alex

How are you feeling?

During these uncertain times, we are faced with circumstances which are forcing us to be away from loved ones. There is a fear of contracting this virulent virus which is killing people on a high scale. The NHS have coped admirably, putting NHS and key workers at risk. We are now forced to stay at home with family members. For many people, lockdown is causing stress and putting pressure on family relationships. There have been record reports of domestic violence, and individuals struggling with mental health problems. Loneliness too is an issue, and people are finding difficulties with living conditions such as small dwellings, and not being able to meet other humans, which after all is a natural human need.

Overload
Because many children are not at school, we are having to take on the role as teacher. Children may find this challenging as well as parents, and we are thrown into an unknown territory. We try our best of course, but some of us are finding this difficult. Some parents are having to home school as well as having to keep their careers on track, working remotely from home. This may cause friction in the family.

Time can be another block. Either we have too much time on our hands or too little. How do we find motivation to do the jobs we never had time to undertake before the lockdown? Do you feel guilty having too much time/too little time? And what about self-care? Are you making time for yourself? Are you able to exercise to improve your mental health?

How can we seek help?

Before Covid 19, I had experience with telephone counselling, but I had reservations thinking this could never take the place of 1-1 counselling. I wondered if I would miss important cues such as body language or sensing something different happening which did not tally with the narrative from the client. Lockdown then occurred which stopped all my 1-1 sessions. I knew I wanted to keep supporting my clients, and the only alternative was video calls. This took a bit of getting used to for my part, and I will admit I found it all a bit strange.

Access counselling online

I was relieved to discover that most of my clients are very happy to work online. I have now been working solely online since the end of March, and it has been extremely successful. There are many advantages to working online for example, having a therapy session in the comfort of your own home and at a time convenient for you. I have clients who are nervous leaving their home, especially during this pandemic, and online counselling is the perfect answer. There are no parking or public transport worries, as well as being good for the environment. Clients are now able to work with a therapist of their choice and not just based on location.

Looking to the future

Therapists like myself have had to rethink the model for counselling. No one knows how long this virus will be a threat, and the answer is to look after your mental health, whilst we live in uncertain times. Online videos are so clear, I can observe body language and I can honestly say it is as good as working face to face. Therefore, I would like you to consider online counselling. I am very happy to offer a free consultation if you would like to find out more, so please do get in touch. Counselling is for everyone. Talking to a counsellor who is non-judgmental, congruent and empathetic makes it easier to cope with mental issues.

What is love?

This is a question I have often thought about. More than a million songs about love have been recorded over the years. We all need love. Love is associated with feelings of positivity, warmth and protectiveness. Feeling love from another person plays a positive role in our general well-being.

Love is a human response to another person where there is a mutual feeling of respect, and where that person doesn’t feel judged for who she or he is.

So why is “love” a reason to stay in a clearly toxic relationship?

In my private practice I regularly see couples who stay together because they “love” each other when clearly the relationship is not working for either. Blaming each other for the relationship not working is common: “you spend too much time at work” or “you never help with the children/ housework”.

Quite often there is a real fear of being alone, with thoughts such as “if I am not with this person, I will be alone and no one else will want to be with me, therefore the relationship I have is better that no relationship”. And as we see the real person reveal themselves, instead of reconsidering whether we accept them and respect them for all that they prove to be, we often keep trying to force them to fit the mould, persuading them to give up this or that, be more or less this or that, so that our personal fantasy can continue. Because if that can’t continue, what else is there. The fairy tale didn’t have an alternative ending. But love can’t be forced, can’t be designed or remoulded. Love accepts. In deeds as well as words.

Unconditional relationships are the only relationships that work. No one is perfect. It is not about status, money or appearance. It is about mutual empathy. Only when you have this ingredient can you be in a relationship where the true sense of love can be nurtured.

This for me sums up love:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth”.

Helen Ross, Counsellor

Why is Self-care so important?

Throughout my work as a therapist I have learnt the importance of self-care and how to implement self-care. Self-care is all about being kind to yourself which encompasses being as kind to yourself as you would to others. It is crucial especially if you have experienced a trauma such as losing a loved one, moving to a different area, divorce or losing your job.

For instance, you’re overwhelmed at work. You have a ton of projects piling up at home, and your calendar is packed with overdue tasks. To make room for all this stuff, you skip lunch, stop going to the gym, and forget about your social life entirely. When we’re stressed, self- care is usually the first thing to go. And that only makes things worse. Then moreover you may find that alcohol or cigarettes or drugs give you a temporary relief from your stress, and perhaps in time these relief strategies overtake.

Self-care isn’t important – it’s crucial. It can make a difference to your overall mental state and help you become more productive, reduce general negativity, and re-focus. We used to be told that the harder things are, the better the reward, but the thoughts of health professionals are changing.

How do you implement self-care?

• Make time to eat well and exercise, even if you are busy.

• Take more breaks and get more done

• Recognise stress and fatigue and process it.

• Do not take on more than you can cope with.

• Put time aside for yourself to pursue the things you enjoy

• Spend your money and time on things that matter to you.

Much of the work I do as a counsellor involves clients who are caught up in the addictive life of a loved one. Clients find themselves intrinsically tangled in a web of lies, denial, hope and disappointment, not knowing what to do or how to help. There is usually self-blame and guilt too such as “I am a bad parent/ friend”.

The hard reality of this situation is you cannot do anything at all. Recovery must come from the addictive individual. No matter what you say or do or threaten falls on dead ground. And the hardest thing to do especially as a parent is to do the opposite of what feels natural, for example, making sure they have somewhere to stay, food and money. With an individual suffering from an addictive disorder, the most important thing for them is to have enough of the addictive substance. That is all. Therefore, money is a way of feeding the habit. Providing everyday essentials such as mobile phones, somewhere to stay makes things easier to carry on this addictive lifestyle.

As a counsellor, I am more concerned with those caught up in this situation, rather than the addict, because there are numerous agencies where help is available for them. My work focuses on self-care, and its importance.
The importance of self-care has been well documented by health professionals, saving billions of pounds every year. But what is self-care?

Self-care is looking after yourself. And when you are in a situation that is all consuming and occupies every minute of your day, it is easy to forget about yourself. Depression, low self-esteem and anxiety are just a few of the symptoms related to self-neglect.

Working collaboratively with a client is a way to explore how he/she can promote a healthy lifestyle that is realistic, for example, eating healthily and taking moderate exercise to going to the cinema and meeting friends so that he/she can recognise their individuality.

Al-anon (a self-help group set up to support affected others) have a saying “Detach with Love” thus giving permission to live your own life and not getting tangled up in your loved one’s addictive behaviour involving sobriety and binges.

Please do get in touch
helen@helenrosscounselling.co.uk