Children and Young People
Counsellors at the Centre offer the following services:
- Working with children and their parent(s)
- Working with young people with their parents or with parental consultation
- Working with young people independently of their parents
Therapy for younger children
‘Everyday language is not the natural language of feeling for children. Their natural language of feeling is that of image and metaphor as in stories and dreams’
Margot Sunderland
When a child is referred for therapy, a series of assessment sessions are arranged to enable the counsellor to establish a relationship with the child and to build a picture of what therapeutic work is needed.
The assessment may involve meeting the parent(s) on their own as well as with their child. According to the age and need of the child, parental involvement in the therapy process is important. Wider family issues may need to be considered, in order to understand the impact on the child’s emotional development, parental responses to behaviours and needs, as well as supporting the process of change.
Therapeutic work with the child makes use of the medium of play and creative technique, and progress is regularly reviewed together with parent and child.
Therapy for Young People
'one of the inevitable struggles in adolescence is between a regressive pull back towards what is known, familiar and safe and a forward movement out into the world’ Frankel
Adolescence is a stage of separation and autonomy, and counselling can offer vital independent emotional support for this process. If a confidential relationship is desired by the young person, the counsellor will consider the young person’s age and whether they have the capacity to understand and make independent decisions (Gillick competency).
Alternatively, the work may focus on an improved communication and relationship with their parent in which case parental involvement may be preferable.
Flexibility in approach for this age group is a primary consideration.
Counsellors are DBS checked and have safeguarding training.
Counsellors who offer this service
I have a background in social work with children and families. I have 30 years experience in working with young people across cultures in youth, education and therapeutic settings.
Prior to my formal training as a counsellor I worked for la Leche League with mothers and babies as a as a breast feeding counsellor, which led to a growing interest in child development and the early parent child relationship.
Before I started training and working as a counsellor I volunteered as a bereavement support coordinator for TAMBA doing telephone support work with families who had lost one or both twins. I decided I wanted to do more training after this and embarked on a contemporary psychodynamic counselling training course in 2009.
Before training as a counsellor, I worked in education, with young people with learning difficulties and with young people who had been victims of crime. Across these roles I recognised the pressures young people face as they grow: bullying, exams and schoolwork, changes to family and friendships, illness and loss of people close to them. Often, they would be grappling with making sense of these experiences whilst also experiencing growth and adolescence, and the strong feelings and physical changes that go with these. I saw first-hand how difficulties with processing the arising emotions would invariably impact on their mental health, their family life, social life and in school.
