Psychotherapy for children, young people and families in Norwich, Norfolk.
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Childhood Difficulties
Children and young people can struggle emotionally from time to time as they try to adjust to the internal and external changes that are a part of growing up in their environments.
Sometimes they are dealt a blow that derails their development or makes life harder. Sometimes they lose hope or trust in those around them. Sometimes extreme emotions are expressed through their behaviour and in ways that they neither understand or can control. This can prevent these children and young people from benefiting from the care and opportunities that are available to them.
How can psychotherapy help children and families?
Psychotherapy refers to talking therapies. Psychotherapists are trained to look beneath the surface of difficult emotions, behaviours and relationships to help children, young people and their families to understand themselves and their problems. They carefully observe a child or young person and respond to what they might be communicating both verbally and non-verbally (e.g. through behaviour, drawings and play).
Through the relationship with the therapist in a consistent setting, the child or young person may begin to feel able to express their most troubling thoughts and feelings. They are helped to make sense of their own experience and develop their own individuality and potential. As a result the child or young person can begin to express their emotions in healthier ways and start to return to the normal process of growth and development. They are likely to feel less anxious, more able to learn and better equipped to sustain friendships.
Psychotherapy can make a difference rather quickly, even with the most troubling symptoms. However, the treatment is not just about getting rid of unwanted symptoms. It aims to help people make better use of future opportunities and relationships.
Psychotherapy: first steps
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Initial 75-minute adult consultation (£110)
To explore your concerns, gather background information, consider a range of support and whether the psychotherapy support that I offer might be helpful. You can ask questions and together we can plan any next steps.
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Exploratory sessions
If agreed, further exploratory sessions will be offered to your child, usually 3 - 5 sessions. These provide you / your child with a feel of how I work and time to ask any questions. They allow me to understand your child’s world more and how I might help.
3
Agreement of support
Following the exploratory sessions, we can then all consider whether and how we can work together in a more informed way. If agreed, this might involve continued weekly sessions for your child in a way that doesn’t disrupt any established trust or rapport. This can be on an open ended basis or agreed time frame. Alternatively, weekly/fortnightly sessions might be offered to parents/carers, or onward referrals or recommendations given.
Types of support offered:
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Sometimes parent/carer(s) and/or young people have an idea of what type of support they would like, whilst other times they would like help to consider what is available.
An assessment helps inform what support might be best suited for a particular family or situation. This sometimes includes referrals to others services or professionals. I might offer the following types of support:
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A child or young person will be seen in weekly psychotherapy on their own. This will be supported through separate, regular reviews with parent/carers. It is sometimes necessary to liaise with a child’s school if difficulties arise there, to ensure a joint up approach.
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Parent/Carer(s) are seen for regular sessions (e.g. weekly or fortnightly). Parents can feel very worried about their children and can often blame themselves for their child’s difficulties or worry that others will do so. Parent support sessions offer a non-judgemental space to think about the child, the parenting role and the parent-child relationship. It is also a space to explore your feelings as a parent.
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Sometimes professionals (i.e. school staff or social workers) may find it helpful to consult to a psychotherapist to better understand a child’s needs or a difficult situation with a child. Sometimes, it may be helpful for me to consult with a school or other professionals also involved with a child or young person that is being seen in individual psychotherapy.
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This is a comprehensive assessment providing a detailed description of a child or young person’s emotional world. This is typically requested when other services require help or input to better understand the emotional functioning of a child or young person to inform decision making.
How do I work?
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I support children and young people from birth to 25 years old. They may be presenting with a range of social-emotional and mental health needs (e.g. anxiety, low mood, self-esteem issues, aggression, relationship difficulties, eating issues, phobias, gender and sexuality diversity, stress and coping difficulties, loss and bereavement, traumatic events, developmental trauma such as neglect and abuse, neurodevelopmental issues such as ADHD or autism).
I support parents who have worries about their children, or who want to reflect on their parenting role.
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Parent reviews are offered alongside a child’s therapy. If a child is in the care of the Local Authority, the reviews take place with foster carers and social workers.
Some young people may prefer more independence and autonomy in their therapy.
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I work in a child-led and age-appropriate way, assessing and supporting the whole child, through a combination of talking, play and drawing. Older children are usually able to talk about their difficulties, whilst younger children may prefer to play or draw in sessions.
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This means that psychotherapy will take place at the same time and place to provide predictability and continuity, which supports the work. Appointments will take place in my practice in Norwich, unless otherwise arranged (e.g. I occasionally work in schools or offer online sessions to parents and adolescents if it were otherwise difficult to access sessions in person). Sessions are usually once per week and last for 50 minutes.
The psychotherapist has a duty to treat information given during psychotherapy appointments as confidential. This means that during any parent discussions or reviews, progress can be discussed but not the content of their child’s sessions. The sharing of any information will be done strictly according to any ‘need to know’ basis, such as, if the health or well-being of a child / family is at risk or to prevent a serious crime from being committed. Should information need to be shared, clients and parents will be notified in the first instance.
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I will always seek to make necessary adjustments and arrangements to ensure psychotherapy is accessible to children and young people that are able to make good use of the therapeutic space.
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Psychotherapy can be short-term (i.e. 3 - 6months), longer-term (i.e. 1 year or longer) or open ended. Occasionally, a fixed number of sessions may be offered.
Sometimes a few sessions can resolve things. Sometimes it takes longer. As a general rule, longer term work is helpful where problems have become deep-rooted and from patterns laid down in early infancy.
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All involvement begins with an initial parents consultation prior to involving the child. If agreed, the child will be invited to some exploratory sessions. It is an opportunity for us to explore worries and concerns, people’s hopes, and what type of support may be required, including whether psychotherapy is likely to be helpful. I can also answer any questions. The exploratory process is comprised of approximately 1-4 sessions and may require more if the situation is more complex. They will typically involve the following:
1. An initial consultation with parents/carers. Young people over the age of 18 may choose to come on their own without parental involvement.
2. If agreed, some individual sessions will be offered to a child or young person. This will provide an opportunity for them to communicate their difficulties and experience the therapeutic process, and allow me to explore how they experience the setting and therapeutic relationship.
3. A final session is offered to review the exploratory sessions, answer any questions, and agree a therapeutic offer and/or next steps. Parents and children or young people are invited to attend together.
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Initial 75 minute parent consultation - £110
Subsequent 50-minute appointments - usually £85
FAQs
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It can ne useful to seek an initial consultation with a couple of psychotherapists before making a decision. A reputable therapist will usually offer an initial exploratory session with no further obligation.
Some therapists may also offer a free brief discussion to answer any immediate questions.
It is worth keeping in mind that working with children can be more complex than working with adults. Therefore, assessments can take longer than it would in adult psychotherapy. It is also important for this reason, that a psychotherapist has the appropriate training and adequate experience in working with children and sometimes with the specific presenting difficulty or situation.
Psychotherapists working with children should have clear child protection policies or procedures in place to protect children and themselves. They should work within their expertise and discuss with families, referrals to other professionals when required and appropriate.
Other useful questions to consider when meeting a psychotherapist include:
Does the therapist provide a private room and regular sessions?
Are you and your child treated with respect, and listened to carefully and constructively?
Does the therapist maintain boundaries and respond thoughtfully to appropriate questions?
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In any psychological treatment there is a risk of feeling worse before you feel better. Therefore, the behaviour of some children can worsen before it improves. For example, children sometimes find that a session can stir up unwelcome thoughts, feelings or memories. This can make them dismissive or critical of their therapist and they may want to avoid going to future therapy sessions.
Children can work hard during therapy and this can take a lot of emotional energy. Most children, including those who are critical or dismissive about therapy, become attached to the work and find holiday breaks or cancelled sessions difficult.