Helen Parker-Drabble
A counselling background: A family historian turned geneatherapist, exploring family history through a psychological lens.
Author of ‘Who Do I Think You Were? ®’ A Victorian’s Inheritance.
I’m a family historian with a twist: I uncover hidden stories using my counselling training to explore how our ancestors’ experiences might have shaped them. By combining psychology with family history, I can help you deepen your understanding of your ancestors, living family and the legacies that are left behind.
Have you asked, ‘Who Do I ThinkYou Were?®’ of your ancestors?
Uncover the hidden stories of your family’s past and gain insights into your own and your ancestors psyche.
Geneatherapy: A New Approach to Family History
As a self-styled geneatherapist, through my writing I offer a blend of:
Psychological analysis across generations
Genealogy and family history research
Social and local historical context
Cutting-edge insights from epigenetics and neuroscience
Discover Your Family’s Psychological Inheritance
My innovative approach can help you:
Build empathy for past generations and yourself
Understand the mental health challenges your ancestors faced
Explore how events and circumstances might have shaped your family’s psychology
Gain insights into your own behaviours and patterns
Are you ready to explore who you think your ancestor’s were? Reading about my family could help you:
Discover your family’s psychological past,
Shed light on your living relatives and
Help you see how your family’s legacy may have shaped who you are.
Featured Book: A Victorian’s Inheritance
Anxiety. Addiction. Depression. We often think of these experiences as distinctly modern, yet their roots often stretch back to previous generations. In A Victorian’s Inheritance, Helen Parker-Drabble sheds light on how such conditions may have shaped different branches of our family.
Using her Victorian grandfather’s life as an example, Helen Parker-Drabble constructs a vivid portrait of daily life for her working-class ancestors. But she goes beyond recreating the past by drawing on theories of psychology, epigenetics and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. What psychological inheritance did her grandfather Walter receive from his parents and their forebears?
Blending social, local and family history with insights from modern science, Helen Parker-Drabble offers genealogists and family historians an innovative lens through which to view their ancestry. Her work invites us to reflect not only on the lives of those who came before us, but on our families’ psychological inheritance and the legacies that are passed on.
Books
A Victorian’s Inheritance
See your ancestors in a new way with this enlightening exploration of family, English village life, and psychology.
A facsimile reproduction of a Victorian Recipe Book: A Handwritten Book of Family Receipts started by Mrs C. A. Allott of Sheffield, (England), 1860
Discover English middle-class housewifery through this rare, unfiltered copy of 19th-century handwritten domestic recipes.
How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors
Consider the profound impact of attachment and adversity on generations of your family through the lens of the Parker family in this 14,000 word article published online in A Special Issue Article From The Online Genealogy Journal “Focus On Family Historians: How Ancestor Research Affects Self-Understanding And Well-Being”.
Latest
- Celebrating Local and Community History Month, UK: Giving Voice to the Past
The inspiring story of the Drabble family of Sheffield, a working-class family whose experiences between the 1930s and 1950s illuminate the extraordinary resilience of ordinary lives. - Listen to Harry’s Experience as a Long-Stay Patient
The podcast discusses “Yet”: A Story of Triumph Over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability, focusing on the author’s father, Harry Drabble, and his experiences as a long-stay child patient in Sheffield due to bovine tuberculosis. It highlights his resilience and the importance of preserving these children’s stories through a Kickstarter pre-launch campaign. - Why I Wrote a Book about Dad, and Why He Wanted it Published
Discover *“…Yet: A Story of Triumph Over Childhood Trauma, Disability, and Resilience,”* a memoir honoring my father’s incredible journey. Overcoming stigma and bovine tuberculosis, he built a life of purpose and inspired others. Help bring his story to life by supporting our Kickstarter campaign. Sign up for updates today! - Remembering Forgotten Children: Save a Crucial Chapter in British History
“…Yet: A Story of Triumph Over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability” uncovers a hidden chapter of British history that deserves to be remembered. From 1900 to 1960, many thousands of… Read more: Remembering Forgotten Children: Save a Crucial Chapter in British History - Forgotten history: A child’s experience of bovine tuberculosis
In 1937, two-and-a-half-year-old Harry Drabble was separated from his mother after being diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis, enduring traumatic hospital treatment for over two years. This isolation and neglect affected him emotionally and socially, mirroring the experiences of thousands of children during this dark period in British history. - How Understanding Psychological Legacies Can Improve Mental Health and Family Dynamics
Understand how attachment theory and ACEs reveal your ancestors’ emotional struggles and triumphs. - Discover How Depression, Addiction, and Trauma Pass Through Generations: Blending Family History with Psychology and Science
Discover How Anxiety, Addiction, and Trauma Pass Through Generations - Consider Psychological Legacies in Family Trees
In A Victorian’s Inheritance, I use historical records and psychological theories to investigate the transgenerational effects of trauma and addiction on my grandfather, Walter Parker, who was born in 1885.… Read more: Consider Psychological Legacies in Family Trees - You can leave a legacy: Sharing Your History When You Have No Direct Descendants
As a family historian, I know the deep sense of purpose that comes from uncovering the stories of our ancestors , but what happens when we have no direct descendants… Read more: You can leave a legacy: Sharing Your History When You Have No Direct Descendants - The possible psychological dangers of exploring our family history & how we can mitigate them
Researching our family history can be a life-changing, affirming experience and has the potential to improve our mental health, but it can also come with potential psychological risks. I am… Read more: The possible psychological dangers of exploring our family history & how we can mitigate them