About Helen

     Helen Rigby is a #1 Amazon Best-Selling poet and author. Her debut poetry book took the literary world by storm and within less than 24 hours after her book was announced, she became the #1 New Release in Nature Poetry. She also hit #11 New Release in Death, Grief, and Loss Poetry.

     Helen began writing poetry when she was ten, nearly two decades ago. It was in her late teens that Helen began experiencing extreme depressive and manic episodes. Unbeknownst to her at the time they were due to bipolar disorder type one. Not sure what to make of these catastrophic mood swings, Helen explored her emotions through writing. 

     Her work as a whole tends to stay on the darker, heavier side of life, as reflected in the poems, Remember Her How She Used To Be, and 5150. However, other poems like, A Huntress With Her Prey, gives the reader a glimpse into a rage filled and detached manic episode. Mixed episodes also made their way onto the page in, The Place Between.

     Like many poetry collections, themes of love and grief are felt deeply within her first book. With A Heavy Heart, Longing, and I Wanted To Tell You, reflect the pain of losing a soulmate.

     The creative forces behind the majority of the collection stem from Helen’s mental health battles with bipolar disorder and her multiple chronic illnesses: endometriosis, trichotillomania, and interstitial cystitis. Helen’s two rounds of chemotherapy and two laparoscopic surgeries sparked, I Wonder Who You Would Have Been, Infertility, and Lupron Injection. The poem, They All Stood There, shares what it’s like to live in a body that is plagued with multiple creatures (illnesses) determined to torture and kill you. 

     Despite these conditions, the catalyst for 'The Collective: A Soulful Mind' was a traumatic physical injury she sustained in March 2020. The opening poem, Post Surgery, brings the reader into her new, unwanted, reality filled with a symphony of knives, sleepless nights, and dark creatures about to feast on her body.

    Outside of writing, Helen is a proper tree-hugger and animal rights advocate. She is also a Reiki Master, sound healer, and certified therapeutic yoga teacher. She helps women redefine, “chronically ill” through holistic modalities.