Child & Adolescent Counselling Service
Our in-house fully qualified team of Child and Adolescent Therapists, provide one-to-one counselling sessions for children and adolescents, run from the Centre’s fully equipped therapy rooms. All our therapists are registered and approved members of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (The BACP) practising within their ethical framework and work in a child-centred way, using play, story-telling, creative work and talk, to help children express their thoughts and feelings in a way that is comfortable and natural for them.
At The Children’s Wellness Centre, all therapists working within our therapy rooms have undertaken specialist, in-depth training in counselling children and young people using developmentally appropriate, play-based and creative therapeutic approaches. We believe that working therapeutically with children requires a distinct set of skills, knowledge and experience that differs from adult counselling. If you are looking for a therapist for your child, we encourage you to ensure they hold recognised qualifications and specialist training in working with children and adolescents, rather than solely adult counselling qualifications. This helps to ensure your child receives support that is tailored to their developmental needs and delivered using evidence-informed therapeutic approaches.
Sessions are suitable for children and young people between the ages of 3 – 17 years and will differ depending on the age and developmental level of each child. For more information about how counselling can support very young children, in the form of Play-Based Therapy sessions, please click here.
What Is Counselling for Children?
Counselling is commonly known as a ‘talking therapy’ to help bring about change and enhance resilience and well-being. Counselling for children and young people may differ from adult counselling and will depend on the child’s age, specific difficulties and development.
Sometimes children are unable to talk about what is troubling them, either because it is too upsetting, or simply because they do not yet possess the maturity to articulate their feelings. As a result, different methods such as play, art or story telling are used to help children express themselves and their emotions.
Older children and teenagers may prefer talking therapy, or a mixture of both, and the counselling approach will depend on the particular individual. Although different methods may be used, the aim of counselling for both children and adults is ultimately the same; to help the individual cope better with their experiences, emotions and feelings.
How Does Counselling Benefit Children?
One-to-one counselling can help support children in a safe, containing environment, allowing life issues or painful and uncomfortable memories to be confronted. Counselling children involves helping the child to develop a positive attitude to life, to respect themselves, accept their feelings and express them responsibly. It helps children to develop self control and direction, learning creative and resourceful ways to confront problems, whilst making independent, positive choices.
Sessions are once a week, at the same day and time each week, to ensure consistency for the child. We run sessions Monday – Sunday during the day, after school and in the early evenings for older children and teenagers.
Counselling children does not involve making decisions for the child, preaching at, or imposing beliefs on them; but, instead, helps them to find new ways and insights to understand problems constructively, allowing the negative impact to be reduced.
Counselling for children is an effective early intervention and has been shown to improve well-being, playing a vital role in the prevention of mental illness later in life. Research also suggests, in time, counselling can improve academic attainment, allowing children to better focus on school and studies.
Please see our Counselling FAQs found here for further information regarding the overall process with children young people.
What Counselling Can Support With
Although this list is not exhaustive, our therapists have extensive experience working with children and young people experiencing the following:
- Anxiety and stress
- Parental separation and divorce
- Friendship issues
- Bullying
- Family and step family relationships
- Sibling rivalry
- Aggression and anger management
- Academic difficulties / exam pressure
- Fear of failure / perfectionism
- School challenges
- Bereavement and loss
- Self harm and suicidal thoughts
- Abuse and trauma
- Transition difficulties
- Domestic violence
- Support for neurodivergent children (including autism and ADHD)
Please complete our Contact Us form with some information about your child, including the days they are available to attend sessions. If you would like to work with a specific therapist, please list this on your form. Once we receive your enquiry, our Clinic Co-ordinator will be in touch to arrange your child’s first appointment with one of our therapists.
After the date for the initial session has been confirmed, your child’s therapist will contact you by phone to learn more about your child, discuss their needs, and answer any questions you may have before the first appointment.
Your child will then attend their initial consultation. This is usually an individual session, although if they are feeling anxious, you are welcome to stay for the first part. The session allows your child to get to know their therapist, become familiar with the room, and decide whether they feel comfortable with this way of working.
It also gives the therapist the opportunity to ensure they are the right person to support your child. The cost of the initial consultation is £80.00.
After the initial consultation, your therapist will email you to share how the session went and whether they feel this type of therapy would be beneficial for your child. If everyone feels it is the right next step, we will arrange ongoing weekly sessions. These are charged at £80 per session and are usually payable monthly.
There is no minimum number of sessions, as every child is different and therapy should progress at a pace that feels right for them. However, meaningful and lasting change often takes time, so regular attendance is important. To give your child the best opportunity to build a trusting therapeutic relationship and benefit from the process, we ask that weekly sessions are only booked if you feel you can commit to attending consistently.
Due to high demand for sessions, there may be a small wait until we can see your child, but we will always do our best to offer a session as soon as possible.
Online Counselling
Although we advocate face to face sessions, we appreciate that at times this is not always possible for some families. For those not local to the area, or for young people who are not yet ready for an in-person session, we can provide remote counselling via video call. This would be at a set session time once a week. Online counselling works best for older children and teenagers in secondary school, but if your child is younger, we can chat this through with you first and see if it may still work for them.
All therapists working within The Children’s Wellness Centre are clinically trained in supporting the mental health of children and adolescents, are DBS checked, registered members of The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and all hold individual Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Pratima
Taylor
Sharon
Dolores
Irene
