Helen is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). She qualified in 1996 and has worked predominantly for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the NHS since then. At times this work has necessitated working with parents of young children, particularly when there has been a trauma or difficulty with bonding, hence her interest in working across all ages and some of her post-Doctoral training. Most recently she was the Clinical Lead for Clinical Psychology Services in Leeds Child Development Services and their specialist feeding team.

Helen has a special interest in feeding difficulties and disorders in children as well as eating disorders in adolescents and adults. This interest dates to her Doctoral Research Thesis. Her NHS work focussed on young children with restricted and selective eating and/or Avoidant and Restricted Food Intake Disorder as well as helping parents to tube wean their child. She has worked in a team providing support to children who struggle with their eating for over 15 years and during this time has have been involved in liaison with Great Ormond Street feeding disorders team when they were carrying out some research studies.

Helen has had training in a number of therapeutic models including Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) and uses these approaches to inform her work with young people and adults with a range of presenting difficulties including those with Eating Disorders. Her preference is to work collaboratively with individuals or families and offer evidence-based interventions following comprehensive assessment and formulation to reach a shared understanding of the areas/issues of concern. Over her time in the NHS Helen has become aware that families of children with feeding disorders may also have experienced trauma in their child’s early life and if this is the case, she is able to help support both parents and the child to understand and manage their difficult feelings, drawing particularly on her CAT training to help formulate and ACT/CFT strategies to help manage day to day. She has worked in a multi-disciplinary team assessing neurodevelopmental delay and disorder, including autism, and offered individual and group therapy and interventions to carers and families, as well as liaising with nurseries and schools.

Helen has received training in the Sensory Oral Sequential Approach to feeding, an evidence-based approach used widely in the USA for children with restricted eating, including those with ARFID.