CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY · SHEFFIELD & ONLINE
Rediscover yourself, and each other, through the journey of parenthood.
Specialist couples therapy & EMDR for people navigating what parenthood asks of them.
WHAT BRINGS PEOPLE HERE
You didn’t expect it to feel like this.
Building a family is one of the most significant things that you can do, yet the psychological reality of it is often missed. The sense of disconnection from your partner, the weight of unresolved events, or the vague feeling that you've lost something you can’t quite name are often confusing and disorienting. These aren’t signs that you're failing, but they could be telling you that something needs attention.
FOR COUPLES
You came into parenthood expecting it to bring you closer. Instead, you’re speaking about logistics, replaying the same arguments, and missing each other. You still love each other but something has changed between you, and you don’t know how to get back to the relationship you want.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Maybe your birth, pregnancy or fertility journey wasn’t what you hoped for, or what you needed it to be. Perhaps your experiences are still with you in the edginess, the disconnection and the memories you’d rather forget. On the surface it looks like you’re coping, but underneath something feels unresolved.
WELCOME
I’m Dr Helen Lewis
I'm Helen, a Clinical Psychologist with a specialist interest in what happens to people, and to their relationships, when a family begins to take shape. My work spans the full arc of family-building, across all routes to parenthood and all family configurations, from fertility and pregnancy through birth into the early years of parenthood and beyond.
Some people come to therapy carrying experiences that never quite resolved: a difficult birth, pregnancy loss, or a fertility journey that has stayed with them. Others arrive further along, when the immediate demands of early parenthood have eased but a distance has started to settle between them and their partner.
Working with both individuals and couples, I draw on Gottman Method Couples Therapy, EMDR, and Schema Therapy to support people through some of the most significant transitions of adult life so they can start to feel more like the people and partners they want to be.
Underpinning my work is the belief that what happens in these years in incredibly important and has a way of moving forward through families and generations.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, CERTIFIED SCHEMA THERAPIST & EMDR THERAPIST
HOW I CAN HELP
Specialist therapy for this season of life.
FOR COUPLES
When your relationship has started to feel strained
Parenthood has a way of pulling two people in the same direction while simultaneously moving them apart. If your relationship has started to feel more functional than connected, or more like a co-parenting arrangement than a partnership, it’s never too early to get help.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
If you haven't quite felt like yourself since a difficult pregnancy, birth, or fertility journey, the amount of time that has passed doesn't change whether it's still affecting you now. EMDR works directly with what happened, without requiring you to talk it through at length.
When the past doesn’t stay in the past
ANTENATAL
COMING SOON
A workshop for couples in the months before a baby arrives and up to 12 months afterward to help you build the foundations that make the transition easier to navigate together.
Bringing Baby Home
WHAT BECOMES POSSIBLE
The patterns we carry don’t have to be the patterns we pass on.
Finding your way back to each other, even when the distance has started to feel like the new normal.
Being able to stay connected through conflict and have conversations that actually feel resolved, rather than resurfacing weeks or months later.
Understanding and changing patterns that have been around so long, you can’t remember how it used to be.
Feeling at home in your body after experiences that made it feel unfamiliar or unsafe.
Feeling close to each other again and recovering desire and intimacy.
HOW IT WORKS
Getting started is straightforward.
1
Book a free 20 or 30 minute call designed to give you a chance to share a little of what's brought you here, ask anything you want to know about the process, and get a sense of whether working together feels right. There’s never any pressure to continue with therapy or decide immediately what you want to do.
Reach out
2
During our assessment sessions we build an in depth understanding of where you are and what you need. That includes your history, how you make sense of what's happening, and what you're hoping might change.
Assessment
3
Therapy takes different forms depending on what you need whether that’s individual sessions, couples work, or an intensive format for those who want focused, time-concentrated progress. Whatever the shape, it's built around the goals we've identified together and adapts as the work unfolds.
Therapy begins
TAKE THE FIRST STEP
You don't need to have everything figured out before you reach out.
The first conversation is simply about whether this is the right fit. There's no pressure and no obligation.
or email: helen@philospsychology.co.uk