Who is Helen Palmer?

Amongst the world’s foremost experts on the Enneagram, Helen Palmer has over 30 years’ experience in both promoting Enneagram studies and in teaching others how to utilise the Enneagram model for self-development.

Helen Palmer has travelled to places as far afield as Brazil, China and Australia to promote greater understanding of the Enneagram.  In particular, she has written extensively on the subject, including being author of a few books, two of which have been translated into 28 different languages.

Her first book, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life, was published in 1988 and became an instant best seller in the U.S.  Her second book, The Enneagram in Love and Work: Understanding Your Intimate and Business Relationships, has also proved to be very popular.

Helen Palmer has continually demonstrated her commitment to furthering the promotion of Enneagram knowledge in others.  She founded the Center for the Investigation and Training of Intuition, later developing the Enneagram Professional Training program with David Daniels, M.D. in 1988.  Some time later, in 1994, Helen became one of the founding directors of International Enneagram Association.

Helen Palmer believes in empowering people to be more emphatic and more emotionally intelligent.  As she puts it, we need to “take more responsibility for our thoughts and emotions and to consider, deeply, how to stand in someone else’s shoes”.  The Enneagram model can greatly aid the well-intentioned individual who wants to become better at handling and building relationships.

As a respected teacher of the Enneagram, Helen Palmer has been invited to speak and teach at various institutions around the world, including John F. Kennedy University, the California School of Professional Psychology and the East China Normal University in Shanghai, China.

Helen Palmer’s work was showcased in a 2003 PBS documentary entitled, Breaking Out of the Box: Discovering the Enneagram.  She has taught the Enneagram in many different settings – dance halls, high schools, business environments.  In addition, Helen Palmer has done substantial work in helping with recovery programmes for compulsive gambling addiction, addressing personal beliefs and trigger systems and dealing with relapse prevention.  This application showcases the versatility of the Enneagram to self-help, personal development and relationship improvement.

Helen Palmer’s teaching approach is grounded in what is referred to as the oral tradition.  This is done through a workshop setting, where individuals who have a good recognition of their Enneagram type talk about their personal experiences.  This can be a good way for the audience to see for themselves how people with different personality types think and respond to different situations.

Helen’s way is to assemble groups of people, each of a single Enneagram type, and allow them to share their stories in a panel.  She precedes this with an interview style introduction to allow the audience to gain insights into the nature of each specific Enneagram type.  The people in the audience can also participate with questions and think of how they can respond differently in future to people of different personality types.  This interactive process is very powerful as the audience can usually relate more easily to anecdotes and stories.

Helen Palmer’s contribution to the field of Enneagram development has been immense, and through the years she has sought to embed the knowledge and disseminate the information she has.  Through various training initiatives and programmes, Helen Palmer continues to support and encourage the field of Enneagram understanding, and will certainly continue to play a key role in years to come.

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