Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

It is normal for children and young people to experience a range of emotions, such as worries, anxieties, fears and sadness. It is also normal for children and young people to show a range of challenging behaviours at different stages in their lives.

However, sometimes it can feel like worries, emotions or difficult behaviour are taking over your child’s life. Perhaps they are distressed when saying goodbye to you at the school gate; or misbehaviour is happening more than you would like; or your child is experiencing panic at exam time. If these feelings or behaviour start to get in the way of everyday life and you are concerned, then a Child Psychotherapist will be able to assess the difficulties and advise you how they may be resolved.

What will a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist do and how can they help?

A Child Psychotherapist will try to help your child to overcome behavioural or emotional challenges. In their first meeting with you, they might ask you questions about areas such as: your child’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development; how long your concerns have been around for; what seems to help the problem and what seems to make it worse. Once they start working with your child, the sessions are confidential unless safety worries arise.

Child psychotherapists are trained to help children and young people understand feelings that are not possible to speak out loud. During a therapeutic session, younger children may be encouraged to play, while older children may be asked to draw or paint and teenagers to talk about their feelings. Through the relationship with the therapist in a consistent setting, the child or young person may begin to know and to feel able to express their most troubling thoughts and feelings: confused, frightened, hurt, angry or painful feelings can gradually be put into words rather than actions. As a result, the child can begin to express their emotions in less disturbed ways and are likely to feel less anxious, more able to learn and better equipped to sustain friendships and other relationships.

For appointment costs, please visit the individual practitioners’ pages.