Helen Parker-Drabble
I’m a family historian and a lifelong explorer of social history, a weaver of factual family tales, and I hold a diploma in counselling.
Have you asked, ‘Who Do I ThinkYou Were?®’ of your ancestors?
According to the online Cambridge dictionary, one of the definitions of therapy is it is a ‘treatment that helps someone feel better or grow stronger’. So as a geneatherapist, I explore mental health, mental illness, and psychology through different eras, in the hope that by exploring what impacted our ancestors we help understand ourselves, and benefit the present and future generations.
I blend social, local and family history with insights from epigenetics, neuroscience, and psychology to offer genealogists and family historians an innovative lens through which to view their ancestry.
In my book A Victorian’s Inheritance I invite you to reflect not only on the lives of those who came before you, but on your families’ psychological inheritance and the legacies that were passed on.
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.
Anxiety. Addiction. Depression.
We associate these words with the challenges of modern life.
Rarely do we consider how these conditions shaped past generations.
Using archival sources, testimonies, and her grandfather Walter Parker’s experiences, the author not only paints a vivid picture of life in an English Victorian village, but she also draws upon psychological theory to explore the lives of her working-class ancestors
What did your forebears inherit from their parents?
Which psychological characteristics did your ancestors hand down?
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
- 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 - The Emotional Benefits of Understanding Our Family History
First, we need to remember that this absorbing hobby is not compulsory and we can choose who and what we research and how. Above all, we need to look after… Read more: The Emotional Benefits of Understanding Our Family History - An Alcoholic in the Family: Unravelling the Intergenerational Impact
In this chapter of A Victorian’s Inheritance, I shed light on the intergenerational impact of addiction and the lasting consequences it can have on individuals and families. Join me as… Read more: An Alcoholic in the Family: Unravelling the Intergenerational Impact - Taste the past at Mary Allott’s Table
Now available to buy Immerse yourself in middle-class Victorian England with Mary Allott’s meticulously kept recipe book. Compiled amidst the turmoil of a life challenged by the abandonment of her… Read more: Taste the past at Mary Allott’s Table - On the BBC! A family history audio Factual Tale – ‘Buried Letters’
Buried Letters A short award-winning family history audio factual tale based on Chloris Drabble. On completion of her nursing qualification in 1917 Chloris left nursing in the Huddersfield Infirmary to join the Scottish Women’s 7th Field Hospital at Lake Ostrovo in Macedonia, where she fell in love with a Serbian interpreter and was irrevocably changed. - Who Do You Think You Are? Family Hero
Despite Walter’s reluctance to discuss his past, I have come to know him better through thinking about the consequences of his mother’s alcoholism and his rural Victorian upbringing. - Graham Carter: Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard
She pulls no punches on awkward subjects that crop up in her own family, including alcoholism, plus the story of her grandfather (and now my hero), who changed the course of the family history when he refused to doff his cap to the local lord of the manor’s estates manager. - Our Ancestors’ Psychology: An Interview with Lisa Louise Cooke on the Family Tree Magazine Podcast.
In episode 152 of the Family Tree Podcast, Lisa Louise Cooke interviews author Helen Parker-Drabble about how so-called “modern” mental health problems like anxiety or depression shaped the lives of our ancestors, and how understanding their experiences can benefit future generations. - Sweet And Sour Valentines
People were also encouraged to buy mocking Valentines. Sometimes Victorian men sent derisive cards, featuring taunts about baldness and alcoholism, for example. However, I suspect women were the main perpetrators of the mean Valentine. - Honouring a Lost Parent: Exploring Your Family History and Preserving your Parent’s Legacy
Would you like to honour the memory of a departed parent by exploring your family’s past?