Meet Rebecca Helms, MA, CAS, HSP-PA, LPA

Why Rebecca opened her private practice

After more than 15 years working inside public school systems in Cumberland County and Johnston County, Rebecca saw the same story again and again: families who needed more support than the school setting could offer, and who had nowhere else to turn. The evaluations were limited. The timelines were long. The answers were incomplete.

So she opened Anchor Educational Evaluations and Consultations to serve those families directly. In private practice, she can take the time that a thorough evaluation requires, deliver a report that explains not just what the data says but what it means, and stand alongside parents in a way that a school psychologist inside the system often cannot.

Her private practice has been open for almost a decade. The families who come to her are the same families she always wanted to reach.

A career built inside every school setting

Rebecca's 15-plus years in public schools gave her something most private evaluators do not have: a genuine insider's understanding of how schools work. She knows how IEP teams operate. She knows what classroom teachers see before a referral is made. She knows what a school is able to do and what falls outside its reach. She also understands the move to college and how 504 plans and accommodations work at the college level.

She began in Cumberland County Schools, where she spent four and a half years as a school psychologist across multiple campuses. She then moved to Johnston County Schools, where she spent eight to ten years building the deep referral relationships that still bring families to her practice from Johnston County today. The total: more than 15 years inside public school systems before opening Anchor EEC.

The insight only a parent can add

Rebecca's professional experience is matched by something her credentials do not capture: her own children attended public school, private school, and were homeschooled. She knows each setting from the inside, not as a clinician observing it, but as a parent living it. When a family describes what their child's classroom is like or how their homeschool day runs, she understands what they are describing in a way that most evaluators cannot.

She has also taught in a private school setting, covering English, language arts, spelling, reading, history, and Bible. That experience shapes how she writes recommendations: she knows what a teacher can realistically put in place in a faith-based or independent school classroom.

Education and credentials

Rebecca earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then went directly to East Carolina University, where she earned her Master of Arts and Certificate of Advanced Study in School Psychology. Her full credentials: Rebecca Rose Helms, MA, CAS, Health Services Provider-PA (HSP-PA), Licensed Psychological Associate (LPA), NC License #5339.

• MA: Master of Arts in School Psychology, East Carolina University
• CAS: Certificate of Advanced Study in School Psychology, East Carolina University
• HSP-PA: Health Services Provider-PA designation
• LPA: Licensed Psychological Associate, State of North Carolina, License #5339

Every school setting, from the inside

Families across North Carolina send their children to public schools, choose independent or faith-based private schools, or homeschool. Rebecca has served all three populations as a clinician, a parent, and a teacher. When she writes an evaluation report for a private school student, she is not guessing at what the school can offer. When she speaks with a homeschool parent, she is not just a credentialed stranger. She has been there.

That is what Anchor EEC offers that a larger group practice or a hospital system cannot: a single evaluator who holds 20-plus years of school experience, private practice depth, and genuine familiarity with the world her clients are navigating.