The Philosophy of the Approach

Recent research has shown that mental health problems affect around one in five children and young people. This has increased by 50% in the last 3 years.

The emotional well-being of children should be viewed as important as their physical health. It is well understood good mental health underpins children and young people's ability to learn, develop satisfying relationships, develop the resilience to cope with life’s challenges and grow into emotionally healthy adults.

Throughout their lives, most children and young people go through difficult times and some children need more help than others to get through the challenges they face.

If you or other adults in your child's life are concerned about your child or young person there are services that are available to help.

The service offers a comprehensive range of therapies for children and adolescents, including individual play therapy and psychotherapy delivered by fully qualified clinicians with extensive experience.

All therapies available are trauma sensitive and neuro-affirming.

We also provide parenting support and consultation to parents and carers, and offer parent-child relationship therapies.

Benefits of Play Therapy and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.

Play therapists and child psychotherapists generally work with children aged from 3 years to adolescence, experiencing a range of psychological difficulties and complex life experiences.

Examples of psychological difficulties may include depression, anxiety, behaviour issues such as aggression.

Difficult life experiences can include abuse, grief and loss, divorce and family breakdown, domestic violence and trauma.

The approach of Child and Adolescent Play and Psychotherapists seeks to look beneath the surface of difficult emotions, behaviours and relationships to help children, adolescents and their families to understand themselves and their problems. They are trained to carefully observe what a child or young person might be communicating non-verbally through their behaviour and play.

Naming feelings and gently exploring a young person’s immediate worries helps them feel truly heard and understood. Even when their difficulties aren’t visible straight away, a psychotherapist listens closely and thinks carefully about what might be happening beneath the surface. Feelings and behaviours such as aggression, sadness, anxiety, or hyperactivity often carry a story that needs space to be told.

Emotions can feel tangled and overwhelming, especially for children and adolescents who are still growing and finding their way through experiences that may be too big for them to manage alone. Having a trained professional alongside them can ease the weight of these feelings, support healthier relationships, and help shape the right kind of support for their future progress.

Through their therapy the child and young person is supported to increase insight, to decrease internal conflict and to increase resilience, and develop coping and emotional literacy skills.

Whilst the child or young person's confidentiality is paramount, we work systemically, which means a child or young person is never supported on their own. The parents, carers, and professionals around them are all important parts of their world.

By working together, we help create a sense of safety, understanding, and support for everyone involved.

Play therapists and Psychotherapists can also undertake parent-child relationship therapy.