Helena de Klerk

I currently have availability on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.

Feeling anxious, disconnected, or stuck in patterns that you can’t seem to shift? I specialise in helping people recover from difficult or traumatic experiences — especially around birth, early parenthood, or overwhelming life transitions. I can help you gently reconnect with yourself, process what’s happened, and feel more grounded again.

I am an experienced chartered counselling psychologist, which means that I’ve undergone a rigorous training and am highly qualified to work with a range of experiences and diagnoses, however inherent to my training and the way that I like to work is that human to human connection; you are not a label or one experience but a whole person (even if it doesn’t feel like that right now). I fundamentally focus on the person or people in front of me and what they are going through.

Please contact me or see my website (www.helenadeklerk.com) for more information.

If you’ve been through a difficult birth, a loss, or you're feeling overwhelmed during pregnancy or new parenthood, you’re not alone and it’s not your fault. I help women/birthing people and their families process trauma, rebuild trust in themselves, and find calm again.

Clients often tell me that I have a calming voice and that they feel truly seen, supported, and understood. I offer a compassionate, safe space where we work at your pace. I blend evidence-based approaches like trauma-informed CBT, EMDR and somatic techniques to help you feel more in control and less stuck in the past.

If you're wondering whether therapy could help, feel free to reach out. We can have a short, no-pressure chat to see if we're a good fit.

First sessions can feel strange and overwhelming especially if you have never had therapy before. I invite you to consider our first session as an opportunity to say hello and to see whether we are a right fit. There’s no obligation, just an invitation to see if this is right for you. 

I have availability on Tuesday AM/PM, Wednesday AM/PM and Thursday mornings.

I flexibly incorporate different techniques to support my clients towards their goals. This might include living life more authentically, managing symptoms, overcoming difficulties, navigating transitions, processing trauma/traumatic events, better understanding the past, feeling more connected to yourself and others...

The basis of our work together will always be compassionate, person-centred and trauma informed.

Using a number of approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy, (attachment focused) EMDR, mindfulness, compassion-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, and psychodynamic and person-centred therapy, I combine my training, skills and knowledge fluidly to meet you where you are and to help you achieve your goals. These goals might remain the same throughout therapy or change over time. Regular reviews will allow us to collaboratively ensure we are on the right track and to make adjustments when needed.

I offer therapy worldwide via Zoom.

For more information see www.helenadeklerk.com

I am an experienced chartered counselling psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the British psychological society (BPS) and EuroPsy. ​I am also a registered counsellor and psychotherapist with the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Â鶹ԭ´´) and a member of EMDR Europe/UK.

With experience working with people of all ages and phases of life, I welcome anyone to contact me to discuss how I might be able to support them. Get in touch if you experience any of the following: anxiety, phobias, panic, OCD, PTSD/cPTSD/trauma, dissociation, depression, low mood, low self esteem, intense shame or guilt, neurodiversity (autism and ADHD).

I specialise in working with the following presentations:

Adverse childhood experiences and (early) trauma: Life is hard. However, for some people this statement is an epic understatement. If you feel you are experiencing a difficult, maybe even traumatic, time in your life, or if you have had a difficult upbringing, I integrate different approaches to ensure you can safely give space to potentially some of the darkest times in your life and to find a way through to a lighter time.

Cross-culturalism: Are you an expat, third culture kid, or is your life influenced in other ways by multiple cultures? Get in touch so we can explore questions of identity and belonging together

Perinatal: Pregnancy, birth and parenthood are unique phases of life that can be joyful but also incredibly scary and painful. If you have experienced a birth trauma, pregnancy loss, infertility, are struggling with your mental health, think you might have a specific perinatal condition such as postnatal depression or perinatal OCD, feel isolated and alone, don't enjoy pregnancy or parenthood right now, or feel anxious or inadequate as a parent, contact me so we can figure out how to make things a bit lighter.

You might have always wanted to try therapy but found it quite daunting. You might have never seen yourself as someone who might go to therapy. You may have had numerous therapies already. 

Before we meet we will arrange a free 20-minute telephone conversation so we can get a sense of what you are looking for and whether I might be the right therapist for you at this time.

The first session is an opportunity to explore what has brought you to therapy and what it is that you hope to get from therapy. It is also an opportunity for me to get to know you and I may ask you questions about yourself and your life, while also respecting that opening up about things will take time. 

Towards the end of the first session we will have an opportunity to see how you found the first session and to think about practicalities such as fees and availability. If we are meeting for a one-off session or assessment then these practicalities will be discuss over the phone before we start.

If you are attending a one-off session or an assessment then I may ask you to complete a questionnaire before we first meet.

The price per session will depend on the length of and the nature of the session, which we will decide at the start of our work together. Contact me so we can make a bespoke plan for you and your needs.

Navigating Motherhood with Confidence: Building Wellbeing and Resilience Through Every Challenge is our attempt to support new parents and their families at such a pivotal time. It aims to take the shame out of the struggle and to arm parents with tools that can make the journey a bit lighter.

The course comes in two parts, which can be done separately but we recommend you do both together as they complement each other and have been designed to support you step by step.

Each part consists of three sessions held over three weeks. They use evidence-based therapeutic approaches that ensure you leave each session with more awareness and tools to navigate difficulty with calm and confidence. We will meet every Wednesday from 12-1pm via zoom. Babies are welcome to attend too.

Although the majority of the course is for the primary carer, we understand the challenges that are faced by other caregivers in the family. This is why we have included two bonus sessions - one in each part, the first for partners only and the second for anyone with caregiving responsibilities. The bonus session will take place on the final Wednesday in the evening from 7:30-8:30pm, also via zoom. Babies are also welcome to attend. 

Part 1 starts on November 5th, 2025

Part 2 starts on November 26th, 2025

What is WTFJH?

What The F&*% Just Happened (WTFJH) was born out of our work as a midwife and a perinatal psychologist. Every day we see parents struggling after having a baby. And while support exists, it is often hard to access, fragmented or overwhelming. Social media and online forums can lead parents into a compare and despair cycle, increasing stress instead of relieving it.

We created WTFJH to remove shame from the struggle in the transition to parenthood and to give practical, compassionate tools to help parents thrive.

Who is WTFJH?

We are Lena and Clover, a perinatal psychologist and a midwife. We have the knowledge and tools to support you and to lighten the load. We are also mums who know what it’s like to have your life turned upside down.

We look forward to welcoming you to one of our courses. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us: whatthefjusthappened.perinatal@gmail.com

Together with Clover Delaney, I have set up WTFJH (What The F Just Happened) and we will be launching a new course soon for mothers who have recently had a baby or are pregnant and worried about how they might cope when the baby arrives.

What The F Just Happened came about because in our work as a midwife and perinatal psychologist, we see many people struggling after having a baby. There is support but it’s not always easily accessible. There is pressure and expectation from the community but also from ourselves. We search the internet and social media for relief but unfortunately the information can be contradictory, inaccurate, overwhelming and can lead to more anxiety when people get sucked into a compare and despair cycle.

We wanted to create something that would support these families. We want to take the shame out of struggling with birth and the experience of being a new parent. What The F Just Happened is our answer. We have created our first course called Navigating Motherhood with Confidence: Building Wellbeing and Resilience Through Every Challenge, but this is just the beginning!

If you are interested in reading more, getting in touch, or would like to book onto the Navigating Motherhood course, you can find more details here: https://www.helenadeklerk.com/perinatal-1

Course overview

Navigating Motherhood with Confidence: Building Wellbeing and Resilience Through Every Challenge. Part 1

Part 1 focuses on the practical challenges of the early postpartum days.

Session 1 - When worry takes over: Understanding what’s normal without igniting the alarm system

Session 2 - Driven to do it all: Managing expectations, routines and the urge to ‘get it right’

Session 3 - Taming the chaos: Finding peace in the parenting storm

BONUS (for partners only) - Partners in parenthood: Facing the challenges, finding your role

Navigating Motherhood with Confidence: Building Wellbeing and Resilience Through Every Challenge. Part 2

Part 2 focuses on the mental load and the complicated challenges that arise once the stress of the early days has abated.

Session 1 - Healing after birth: Soothing the wounds

Session 2 - Who am I now? Identity, change and embracing the new normal

Session 3 - Roots of connection: Nurturing family and community after birth

BONUS (for the family) - It takes a village (to raise a child)

I have availability on Tuesday AM/PM, Wednesday AM/PM and Thursday AM.

If you are looking for a space to think collaboratively about your work, to step back and observe things with a wider lens or grapple with the complexities of this beautiful but difficult job that we do, contact me to see how I can support you. I offer individual and group supervision.

I am a chartered counselling psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC #PYL040918), the British Psychological Society (BPS #348636) and the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (registered EuroPsy, EFPA #UK-070404-202404). I am also a registered counsellor and psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (Â鶹ԭ´´ #383263) and a member of the EMDR Association UK (#D0486). 

I adhere to the guidelines of the professional bodies mentioned above, engage in my own supervision according to the requirements of my professional organisations, and am fully insured with Howden. I have completed supervision training through City, University of London and Association for Psychological Therapies (APT).

Working with clients can be joyful, frustrating, exciting, painful, and so much more. To be able to stay with our clients and offer them space to better understand themselves we too can benefit from having space to reflect on what our clients bring but also our own experiences with our clients. By pausing we have the opportunity to grapple with the complexity that often arises in the work we do. This might include, though is not limited to, exploring risk and safeguarding, ethical dilemmas, particular clients or presentations, where the personal and clinical intersect, areas of progress, areas for potential (professional) development, self care and any questions that might be arising.

In giving these themes space I aim to support you (and by extension your clients) to be the best practitioner you can be. I aim to create a space that is compassionate and curious. As a pluralistic practitioner I integrate different modalities and perspectives into the work I do which is useful in supervision as different perspectives can help untangle stuckness and complexity.

I want to support you to ensure your practice is adhering to the guidelines and regulations of your governing body. I want to support you to ensure aspects of risk and safeguarding are being managed ethically and safely. I also want to make sure that you are looking after yourself to mitigate potential burnout.