Dr Helen Startup
Clinical Psychologist
Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Director of Schema Therapy School UK
Helen is an experienced Clinical Psychologist, Schema Therapist and Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT), based in Brighton, UK. With over 20 years of experience in the NHS, she has led teams, developed innovative treatment approaches, and contributed to clinical research trials and publications.
Qualifications:
- BA Applied Psychology, University of Sussex
- PhD Psychological Mechanims of Anxiety, University of Sussex
- Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London
- Post Graduate Diploma In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, University of Oxford
- Advanced and Supervisor Accreditation as a Schema Therapy, International Society of Schema Therapy
Throughout her career, she has worked in National Specialist Services, supporting individuals struggling with eating disorders, anxiety and depression, psychosis, personality disorders, and those who have endured childhood trauma.
Beyond her clinical work, Helen has been actively involved in research and publishing. She has authored books, chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles. Her most recent co-authored book, Transforming Emotional Pain and Rediscovering the Self in Anorexia Nervosa: A Clinical Guide was published in 2025. Helen also co-edited Creative Methods in Schema Therapy: Advances and Innovation in Clinical Practice, published in 2020. She also co-developed a NICE-recommended treatment approach for Anorexia Nervosa, A Cognitive Interpersonal Therapy Workbook for Treating Anorexia Nervosa: The Maudsley Model, published in 2018.
More recently she has been involved in the development and evaluation of treatment approaches for Anorexia Nervosa including, a group based approach (The Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA): a feasibility case series of an integrated group based approach) and a Schema Informed CBT approach (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1754470X25100196).
Helen is accredited with the British Psychological Society (BPS), the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP), and holds advanced accreditation with the International Society for Schema Therapy (ISST). She is also an HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist.
Helen is passionate about delivering effective, relational, evidence-based psychological therapy with compassion.
www.brightonpsychologyservice.co.uk
