Child and Adolescent Counselling - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) | Art & Play Therapy | Coaching

How I can help :

Using an approach that is not only evidenced based but is designed with your child in mind, we will develop a plan that meets your child’s needs both to address current difficulties and provide them with the tools to cope and manage difficult emotions and feelings.

Specialising in the treatment of:

• Anxiety disorders
• Low mood and depression
• Working with children and young people on the autistic spectrum
• Anger management and emotional regulation difficulties
• Attachment difficulties
• Sleep disorders
• Life transitions - separation & divorce

My approach

Firstly let me assure you that I have many years experience of working with children and young people in a variety of settings. I have undergone extensive training to work specifically with children of all ages using an Integrative Arts approach along with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which I have adapted to use with children and young people. I have undergone in-depth training on safeguarding and have an enhanced CRB status.

The sessions are focused on building positive outcomes through the therapeutic relationship and making the sessions fun , where your child will actually look forward to coming to the sessions.

Teenagers

As they grow, young people are establishing their identity and exploring where they belong in the world. It is a time of tremendous change where their identity is forming as is their internal emotional resilience. During this stage of development there can be increased risk taking behaviour, experimentation and a pushing of boundaries.

Concerns have been raised about the state of the mental health of our young people: depression, anorexia, self-harm and drug use have all been recorded as being on the increase. Half of all lifetime mental health problems start in the teenage years.

In what is naturally a demanding and challenging time there is the added pressure of social media etc which only adds to the pressures and questions of  where do they fit in? It is more important than ever before that we support them to feel confident and that they have the rest of their lives to move through stages of development.

Services Offered

Individual Therapy

Sessions are designed specifically to meet your child’s age and the presenting issue. I work with children and adolescents from the ages of 3 to 18. Therapeutic support and interventions are available for a range of issues (see above) but also including social anxiety, school and family behavioural issues and developmental issues. I have many years experience supporting in particular teenagers through what can be a difficult time as they are figuring out who they are and their place in the world.

Art & Play Therapy

The sessions are to support your child to understand their emotions and behaviour and to be able to express these difficulties through different methods such as drawing , painting , clay , puppets , play and the sandtray. Some adolescents prefer just to talk rather than use the art modalities and this is fine. The point I want to stress is that sessions are designed to work with the child / adolescent as an individual and to make them feel special and important.

Family Therapy

I offer a service where I work with the family as a whole to help them through difficulties such as communication breakdown, divorce & separation and life transitions. Sessions can be a mixture of parent and child , all the family and siblings. We can discuss the best fit/combination during the initial assessment.

Coaching

I offer a service to help young people achieve their goals and overcome fears which may be getting in their way. This could be exam anxiety, stage and performance anxieties, life coaching and goal setting.

Support for schools

I have worked in a number of schools offering both individual counselling services for children and young people but also support for teachers and child support staff. I also have associate art psychotherapists who are available to support schools and colleges - please contact me for additional information regarding services for schools.

About me

I have trained at a world leading institute for the support of children and young people - Institute of Arts in Education. I have also trained and worked with children and young people in care and foster care homes. 

I am passionate about the well being of our young people in schools and the wider society. I am in full clinical supervision with a UKCP accredited Child Psychotherapist who is based in Harley Street London and widely published. I also attend regular group peer supervision to further deepen my knowledge and expertise. I am also committed to regular continuous professional development (CPD) to ensure that my training is kept current.

Please connect with me via Facebook and Twitter where I post articles on mental wellbeing.