Rachel Selmes, professionally known as Rachel Hillerby

Hello, I am Rachel

I know that choosing a therapist can feel like a big step. You may be looking for someone with the right clinical background, but also someone who feels calm, steady and human.

Believe EMDR brings those two things together. My work is grounded in more than 20 years of NHS experience as a Senior Occupational Therapist, specialist EMDR training and accreditation pathway, and a whole-person Occupational Therapy lens. At the same time, my private garden practice in Billingham has been created to feel nothing like a hospital room.

It is quiet, warm and private. A place where we can work carefully with trauma, anxiety, grief, burnout or distress without rushing, pushing or overwhelming you.

Clinical roots in Teesside

For more than 20 years, I have worked across NHS mental health and community services throughout Teesside, practising professionally under the name Rachel Hillerby.

My clinical experience includes work across North Tees Hospital, Hartlepool Hospital and James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough, alongside community-based services connected with West Park Hospital and Roseberry Park.

Throughout my career, I have supported people experiencing complex trauma, eating disorders, severe anxiety, emotional distress and psychosis, including work within early intervention in psychosis services where timely, compassionate support can make a profound difference to long-term recovery.

Working across these settings has given me deep experience of how trauma and mental health difficulties affect every part of a person’s life — not only emotionally, but physically, relationally and practically too.

How this shapes the way I work

My background as an Occupational Therapist means I look beyond symptoms alone.

I pay close attention to how trauma is affecting daily life: sleep, relationships, confidence, work, routines, emotional regulation and the nervous system’s sense of safety.

My health coaching training adds another important dimension. Alongside processing what has happened, we also focus on what recovery needs to look like in real life, helping you move forward with clarity, steadiness and practical change.

This combination of NHS clinical experience, trauma-informed EMDR practice and whole-person understanding allows me to offer therapy that is compassionate, grounded and tailored to the realities of everyday life.

Credentials

Why my Occupational Therapy background matters

Trauma does not stay neatly in one part of life. It can affect how you sleep, how you work, how you parent, how close you feel to people, how safe you feel in your own body, and how much energy daily life takes from you.

My Occupational Therapy background helps me keep the work practical and connected to real life. We are not only asking, “What happened?” We are also asking, “How is this affecting the way you live now, and what would feeling safer allow you to do again?”

Problems people often bring

You might not search for a therapy name first. You might search because something in life has become hard to manage.