Therapy with CHILDren AND ADOLESCENTs

Therapy offers children, adolescents and their families a space to think and to untangle difficulties. It provides a space to develop and share understanding, be heard, and nurture communication and relationships.

In my experience I have found that members of a family often share similar values and intentions but the stresses of both every day and extraordinary circumstances can lead these intentions to become ‘lost in translation’ between one another. Therapy can be a space to reconnect.

I have over ten years experience of working with children, adolescents and parents in community mental health setting, Children’s centres and in a leading Paediatric Hospital. I work in an integrative way (using a wide range of models and approaches) to provide evidence based interventions and in accordance with best practice guidelines and NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence). Please see ‘About Me’ and ‘What I do' pages for further information about therapeutic approaches.

Presenting challenges

Here are some examples of the challenges I am able to support with:

Difficulties such as worries (anxiety), mood difficulties, low mood (depression), challenging behaviour, self esteem, relationship difficulties, bullying, sibling rivalry, transitions and grief. I can support with other early years challenges such as sleep, weaning, feeding, toileting, behaviour, transitions and the arrival of a new sibling.

I also specialise in supporting children and families facing physical health conditions including Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal conditions, other life long or life limiting conditions and physical health conditions that are biopsychosocial in origin such as Chronic Pain conditions.

I am able to offer appointments at the Marlow Clinic in Buckinghamshire or at the IPP (International and Private Patients) service at Great Ormond Street Hospital in central London. Remote (online) appointments are also available.

Please note:

• This is not an exhaustive list. Please get in touch to discuss anything that I have not listed.

• I do not offer any structured cognitive assessments such as the ADOS (for ASD/ Autism) or WISC (for general overview of intellectual ability) or ADHD assessments etc.

• I do not offer assessments or recommendations for court proceedings

what does therapy look like

During the assessment phase it is often helpful to have parent/ carer (adult) only time and child only time within the session(s) to enable everyone to have a voice and acknowledge their perspectives. As with all presenting challenges, the type of therapy recommended with depend upon the formulation made following the assessment and your preferences. The recommended work may be child only, parent only, or a combination of the two along with wider family work as appropriate.

Therapeutic work with young children is creative in nature in order to enable us to connect to their world, which is full of imagination. We use creative techniques through play, drawing, writing, stories and metaphors to support children.

It may be important to include your child’s school or GP, either to aid the assessment, for liaison or to make recommendations to. These ideas will always be discussed with you first.

Confidentiality and risk

When working with children and adolescents it is important to keep the family GP informed, as they are the central point of contact for your child’s health. We can discuss during our assessment what information it would be helpful to share with your GP. It is often via a summary letter following the assessment phase and a end of treatment summary at the end of therapeutic work.

There may be times in our work that I would be required to contact your child’s GP or local Safeguarding Team if any significant risk of harm to self, child or other is identified. I will always en-devour to inform you if this is the case as I believe transparency is a therapeutic relationship is very important.

Please contact me for further information regarding Confidentiality and Risk Policies.

NEXT STEPS

Please feel free to contact me for a free consultation and to ask me about anything you are unsure of.