Dr Andrew Greenland: 0:00

Welcome back to Voices in Health and Wellness. This is the podcast where we speak with leading minds reshaping how we think about health, care, and connection in the modern world. I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Greenland, and today's guest brings a much needed creative lens to this conversation. Helen James is the founder of Cormac James, a London-based brand consultancy that's built a reputation for meaningful storytelling and strategic clarity. Her work sits at the crosswords of commercial insight and creative craft, helping brands cut through the noise without losing their soul. In a world where wellness brands are told to stand out, Helen helps them stand for something. So, Helen, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Helen James: 0:38

Hi, Andrew. Hi. I'm a child psychotherapist. And uh I began training to do this when I was, gosh, about 14 years ago now, 15 years ago. Um really because I had a child myself that had gone through um some mental health struggles and just felt that I could do this better myself, in a sense. Um, and so that then took me on a journey through psychology and ultimately through psychotherapy. Um, and yes, now I um have a practice with a colleague um based down in Hove, actually. So, yes.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 1:20

Thank you. And can you perhaps tell us a little about your work at Cormac and James and what led you to launch it? I mean, if you can tell us a little bit about your backstory, but um it's uh I think it's an interesting journey and an interesting pivot. So perhaps you could tell us a bit more about it.

Helen James: 1:33

Of course. Um it was really a colleague and I had been working together many years elsewhere, and we felt that actually Brighton and Hove in itself didn't have um a specific child and adolescent psychotherapy service. Everything was geared around adults, and there are so many children and young people, including students. Um, we've got uh three universities here, I think, now. Um, so it just felt like a really underserved area. I'd lived in the area for gosh, 20 years, and just felt that there was a big gap. Um, and so colleague and I decided to um launch a practice in 2024, April of 2024. Um, so yes, that's how we opened there.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 2:20

And how has it evolved since you opened your doors back in 2024?

Helen James: 2:24

That's what's the kind of journey been like it was daunting to take that leap, obviously, to start with, really daunting. Um we actually began with clients very quickly. It was quite fortunate. Uh I guess that kind of my market research in the area and realizing how many children and young people there were held true. So we did begin to build up a caseload. We are now a year on, and we've just opened a second room and we're looking to open a third shortly, um, hopefully in the new year. So we're building slowly and steadily. Um, I think I always think this is one of those careers where you kind of don't want to be busy because obviously that that means that there's a huge need out there. So that's it's a it's bittersweet, I guess. But so far there's no end to the client referrals that are coming in.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 3:18

And what does your work look like day to day? What's your I'm probably there is no typical day in this world, um, but what is your the general pattern of things?

Helen James: 3:26

Yeah, general pattern of things. Um I have a private practice based at my own home. Um, so I do two days here, which is where I am now, and then two days in the office at Cormac and James. I think when I was asked what I wanted to do at school, I just said I don't want to do the same thing every day, and I think I've definitely achieved that. I never know from never mind day to day, from hour to hour, what's gonna enter the room next. Um, because obviously, even a clients can have crises, things can come up, things can change, you know, very, very quickly. So, you know, from hour to hour, everything you can change.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 4:05

So I guess you're leading a bit of a double life. Um that's not meant to be derogatory, but if you do different things, how many how do you balance that out? And because I I mean I do a similar thing in my world, I'm doing lots of different things, wearing lots of different hats. Just curious to know how you kind of keep things siloed, separated, and balanced out.

Helen James: 4:23

I think that comes from the training. We're trained really well. I trained at Therapia in London, um, and it was a really tough course. Uh and it prepared us for most things, I think, and especially how to differentiate, kind of separate out one aspect of your work from another. Uh, obviously, we hold ourselves as therapists, we hold quite difficult material at times, and then we go home to our own children and families, and there's an aspect of that training to hold that, but also to be able to put it down at the end of the day that I apply to both jobs, both hats, as you say. I lead a bit of a double life.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 5:01

And do you have a leaning more to one than the other, or are you very balanced in the different things that you do?

Helen James: 5:08

Um, no, I Cormac and James is my baby, um, and always will be, I think. Um, it's been really exciting to take what we've done on a small scale elsewhere into Brighton. Um, and I'm guess that's where my real passion lies. Um, ultimately, you know, Ross and I have lots of plans for the business. Um, lots of things on the back burners for for future, but yeah.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 5:37

And you what are you seeing in terms of client expectations? We've been through a fairly big turmoil in the last five years with the pandemic. Has that affected what you're seeing in terms of what's showing up? And how have you kind of um embraced that?

Helen James: 5:51

No, absolutely, that has had a huge impact on in the client group that we see, obviously, is you know, teenagers and you know, the sort of 15-17-year-olds that we're seeing now were you know at 11, 12 during the pandemic. So I think that there's a lot of there's a lot more anxiety prevalent. You know, I think we we see anxiety continually most days. Um it's phenomenally prevalent in that particular age group, and I think we're seeing a huge rise, which is changing, largely due to the pandemic and the way that that threw our young people back into the house with their parents at a time when they're meant to be developing their own individual lives and heading out there to be more with friends, more with school, you know, developing their identities. So we do have a lot of kids now that you know are struggling to do that, to make that separation because they were stuck at home for those years.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 6:55

Do you think we'll ever be completely over the pandemic based on what you've just said and the fact that we're still seeing the aftermath of that now? When will we finally be able to say, yeah, we've got everything that we needed from the pandemic, we've learned everything we need to need, everybody's recovered and better. Let's move on.

Helen James: 7:09

Yeah. Um who knows? Um, wouldn't it be lovely to say that that is completely in the past and you know, and now can and then consigned to the history books? I guess the answer is that more children and young people are coming forward. Therapy is more accessible than it's ever been more socially acceptable as well. So I kind of take hope, I would guess, in the aspect of that. That means that more young people are coming forward to explore those experiences and will hopefully then recover in that aspect and go out and continue with their developmental stages as they would have done had the pandemic not happened.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 7:52

Um perhaps you can remember telling us a little bit about the the brand storytelling and communication because I think that's something this is your part of your double life. And I just wondered how that might have been influenced by your work as a child child psychotherapist.

Helen James: 8:06

Um I think the key whether that's different for other businesses, I mean, obviously the client is at the core of what we do, um, and the ability for us to connect with our clients is paramount. That's so the the kind of storytelling, the social media, all of that comes into it. Um it's about promoting who we are as people as much as almost as much as our skill set, because if a client can't connect with us as a person, then the therapy is likely going to go nowhere because there needs to be that trust, that genuine kind of feeling between us, myself and the client, the child, in order for the therapy to even begin. So it's a it's a big process, it's a long process sometimes.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 8:52

And in terms of the kind of advice that you give to the clients that you're working with to improve the way that they um connect with their audiences, can you give us some examples of practical things that you get them to try and do?

Helen James: 9:05

Um, or clients. Um gosh, uh I guess be authentic about who you are. You know, have find your voice to actually who's behind the brand, who's behind that. Um, you know, for Ross and I, it was really important that we present ourselves as as real people. Um so that's that's the sort of genuine authenticity, I would say, is the key.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 9:35

And there's lots of noise, there's lots of social media noise, there's lots of noise in the media in general. Do you have a sense of what um wellness brands misunderstand about people and that they're getting wrong in the way that they communicate and put content out?

Helen James: 9:51

Oh gosh, that's a difficult one. Um again, I think it comes down to knowing your audience, knowing, you know, really knowing what that person wants from you. Um, and for us, it's always to be, you know, able to be genuine down to earth, you know, not we're not experts as such. I mean, we may have the knowledge, but that's not how we position ourselves as experts. Um so yeah, I guess if I had any advice, it would be that you know, find your find your audience and be authentic.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 10:28

I mean, if that are you aware of any sort of damaging narratives that you think are unhelpful in this space, in sort of wellness, education, people's mental health in general, things that kind of prick your ears up and set the red flags and the bells ringing in your mind.

Helen James: 10:44

Um I don't think so at the moment, nothing that particularly comes to mind. Uh I guess the narrative the narrative around therapy that it can be, you know, something that's quick and easy to do, that narrative I think damages you know us as a practice because it's not easy. It's one of the hardest things you'll ever do. And um if you're gonna do it properly, you know, it's it's really hard. So I guess the narrative that it can be a quick fix is you know thoroughly unhelpful for us.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 11:19

You mentioned a quick fix. And is there anything else about um the way mental health is communicated to parents and children that you'd like to change or see done better?

Helen James: 11:32

It's really difficult to be um to be honest about that without feeling like I'm criticizing. Um I guess the kind of for me, the model of the sort of six, twelve sessions of therapy I find really I'd like to say confusing, really. I think it doesn't work like that. For me, it would take five or six sessions to even begin to get to know that child or young person. So I kind of start from six weeks in. So where you have models that finish at six weeks, for me that makes no sense, even at twelve. Um, in order to make therapy stick, as it were, then you would have a long lead-in, getting to know the child, getting them to trust you, um, and then naturally a sort of slow closing out, you don't end abruptly either. So those models of therapy for me are pretty inadequate. Let's stick with that.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 12:31

Okay. And what did you say? What are the kind of the challenges in the work that you do? Because you're basically a clinician, you're a business owner. What are some of the challenges in doing this kind of work?

Helen James: 12:42

I think the difference between being the business owner and the and the clinician that's quite complex to wear those two hats. Um, because obviously one is facts, figures, and numbers and accountancy and spreadsheets, and the other is very much the human connection. Um, you don't generally get into this business because you're obsessed with you know facts, figures, and numbers. So I think a lot of us as therapists can struggle a little with that side of it promoting ourselves, pushing ourselves out there, because what we really want to do is is be in the room with the child, the client. Uh so that's that's tough. That's definitely a growing edge for us.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 13:22

And in terms of the clinical work at the moment, is there anything that is a particular challenge in the day-to-day of delivering this kind of care?

Helen James: 13:29

I think the crises around mental health care generally is it's I've never known it this bad. It's it's just it makes it makes our work really difficult. Um, because sometimes we'll see clients that literally cannot afford to continue, and we know that there's nowhere to send them. Uh that's incredibly difficult. The the the waiting list, you know, for CANAMS for the past few years have been insurmountable. I mean, and the lead-in times for diagnoses for autism and ADHD, anything along those lines is just inordinately long. Um there are also complexities around shared care between parents who will think they're doing the right thing by going to a private psychiatrist to get a diagnosis and will then discover that a lot of the a lot of the NHS sometimes will not accept that diagnosis. Schools might not accept that diagnosis. So then you're back to square one and you're faced with a three-year, you know, list for CAMS. Um, so it can be incredibly complex at times.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 14:40

And with all those constraints and stressors, how do you and your colleagues look after yourselves in this work? Because it is very demanding. And I suppose there's always that risk of transference. So, how how do you kind of look after yourselves?

Helen James: 14:53

I think it's about making sure that you have time for yourself. Um, you know, wellness, uh for me, you know, um, you can probably see my got my studios in the garden. So being being out in nature for me is huge, um, very grounding and very important to reconnect with that side. Uh anything mindful, yoga, meditation, um, I've meditated on and off through my life. So I reach for those tools. Um, and you know, obviously getting enough sleep, taking supplements, you know, whatever I can do to support myself and being with friends, you know, having connections myself with people that aren't about work. Yeah.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 15:36

So you've been doing this work for a little while now in both camps. Um, if you could maybe wave a magic wand and change something tomorrow, what would that be?

Helen James: 15:45

Without a doubt, camps, waiting lists. Um, absolutely. I think being able to, I mean, when you when you're a parent and you come to us or a service like us, you've got a child, you're normally at a stage when you're pretty desperate. I mean, you finally reached out for help or managed to fund sessions for your child. And without that backup from camps for the children that you know can't continue with us or are waiting for diagnoses, as we said, which which is not something we do. We can offer guidance, but we don't diagnose ourselves. So, yeah, that would be what I'd reserve my magic wand for, I think, if it wasn't for just curing mental health full stop, of course.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 16:32

Of course. And if you were to um uh start all over again tomorrow with everything that you know and the journey that you've been on, would you do anything differently at all?

Helen James: 16:43

Oh, would I do anything differently? Um I think I'd probably have made the jump a bit sooner, um, you know, set up on my own a bit sooner. Um and I'd have probably jumped onto social media and things like that a lot quicker. Um that's been something I have myself have been a little behind the curve on. Luckily, I have a teenager in my life who, you know, catches me up. Um, but marketing, branding, that kind of thing, you know, we we've pretty much learnt as we go on. So it would be good to have had a lot more knowledge of that before we began, I think.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 17:26

And finally, where are you looking to take things over the next six to twelve months? What are your plans in both camps? The the psychotherapy side, the branding side, what would you like to be doing?

Helen James: 17:36

Um, psychotherapy side, more training, so that we can, you know, provide more tailored support to more children, uh extend into our third room, which is another plan. Um, and business-wise, I myself want to get into more of you know, speaking, writing, uh, that aspect of my life, which was what I did before this, really. So kind of a sort of circle around. Um otherwise, just keep continuing what we're doing and hopefully keep the momentum that we've got and be able to support more children and young people as they come through our doors.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 18:18

I mean, if you had a surge of new clients next week, um would that work or would something break? Hopefully, not you. What would happen if you had a massive surge coming in?

Helen James: 18:30

Uh yeah, I mean the the risk is that it would be us that would break. Um I think Ross and I both are now um advanced enough, as it were, in our careers that we're well aware of roughly how many clients we can hold without breaking. Um a surge of clients would not be good news, and you know, obviously in the in the grand scheme of things. Um so I would hope that we would be able to manage that list, you know, prioritize triage. And then we're, you know, again we're back into making decisions about young people's mental health, which is something I'd love to never have to do. I'd like to be able to always provide what they need and always have somewhere to refer to. That would be the dream.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 19:14

And on that note, Helen, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon talking about your work in both the the branding side of things and the child psychotherapy side. It's been a very interesting conversation. Thank you so much.

Helen James: 19:25

Thank you, Andrew.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 19:26

Thank you.