“hilfen” as a verb does not exist, only as a plural of “Hilfe” but i don’t think it’s used that often
so “Hilfe” is the noun and “helfen” is the verb
for example:
ich brauche Hilfe – i need help
ich kann dir helfen – i can help you
https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/1041662
einem vs einen
https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1564/einem-vs-einen
