Helen is a skilled and compassionate coach, coach supervisor and occupational therapist. Her experience has been rich and varied, working with a diverse range of clients in the NHS, public, voluntary and corporate sectors. She has a deep curiosity and intuition about people and believes that a client’s narrative is the best way of getting to know them; where they are in the context of their lives and where they might be thinking about going. For many years Helen’s professional interest has been in exploring what keeps a person well in the workplace and enables them to flourish. Her coaching approach is holistic, underpinned by her occupational therapy training, the central tenet of which owes much to the ideas of holism, humanism and pragmatism. Clients describe her as reflective, with good analytical skills and a supportive non-directive approach. Helen is an accredited Professional Certified Coach with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council at Senior Practitioner Level, with over 800 hours of Coaching experience.
KEY SKILLS:
- Managing mental health and wellbeing in the workplace
- Return to work coaching following burnout or long-term illness/absence
- Career and transitions
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING:
- Post graduate Certificate in Coaching – Middlesex University
- Accredited Senior Practitioner Level – European Mentoring and Coaching Council
- Certificate in Supervision of Coaches and Consultants – The Tavistock Institute
- Certificate in Humanistic Counselling – Gestalt Centre
- Certificate in Career Counselling – European Commission
- BSc in Occupational Therapy – Brunel University
- MSc in Occupational Therapy – Hogeschool van Amsterdam
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
- European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists
- UK Health Care Professions Council
CAREER BACKGROUND:
Following a career in the City of London, Helen embarked on a major career change to train in Occupational Therapy. After qualifying she worked for the NHS in a variety of psychiatric and physical settings before leaving the UK to live in Brussels, Belgium. There she trained as a coach whilst working for the European Commission, first in the Psychosocial Interventions Sector of the Medical Service, assisting staff experiencing difficult life situations, before moving into an HR role responsible for; wellbeing at work; career and personal development coaching and equal opportunities. She returned to the UK in 2018 to work as a coach on an NHS project supporting adults with mental health conditions to return to/remain in work. She continues to work with the NHS Leadership Academy, and Genius Within, a social enterprise focused on supporting people with neurodiversity to fulfil their employment potential and runs her own practice missing elephant limited offering coaching, supervision and occupational therapy.
I am very excited to be an associate on Jen’s site and invite any interested OT’s to contact me for an informal chat about how we might work together.
Mobile: 07901 190735
Web: missing elephant limited
Twitter: @mehelenbarnes LinkedIn: Helen Barnes
