Psychotherapy for children and adolescents
People come to therapy for all sorts of reasons. The first question I always ask is, ‘What would you like to feel or do differently by the end of the therapy journey?’
Therapy is a bit like a journey.
When we get a sense of where we are heading, we can get an idea of what kinds of things we might want to take on the journey, how long it might take, what kinds of things might fall in our path, and what kinds of things might be useful to help to overcome them. Of course, things change, and you might change your mind about where you want to go, or how long it will be, we keep reassessing at points on the journey to reflect on where we have been and we are heading.
Sometimes people know exactly where they want to end up and what that would look like- maybe they want to feel more in control of their emotions, or they want to reduce flashbacks, or want to feel more confident, or to be able to make friends more easily. Sometimes it’s difficult to answer in words, and we might explore other ways to express where you’d like to be. One of my roles can be to make suggestions of different paths to take and help you work out at each junction which path is right for you. Sometimes working out where we are heading is where we are heading in the beginning.
The initial consultation session
The first step of the journey is the initial consultation. All initial sessions are online. Further sessions can be online or in-person.
I invite the child/ adolescent and their caregivers to be present for initial sessions. For young children, it can be useful to have a session with just caregivers first. This is not a therapy session, more of a chat about what your hopes are, as well as any worries, about therapy. A chance for you to ask questions and to see if we are a good fit, and a chance for me to find out more about your family and your history.
The Therapy Journey
The therapeutic journey can involve all kinds of ways to help you get where you want to go: art, movement, play, EMDR, sandtray, imagery, yoga, nature connection, talking, creating, and playing games; often it includes all of these, and sometimes one or two. Sometimes people prefer sessions to take place indoors and sometimes outdoors and sometimes online, sometimes a mixture of all of these. It depends on what’s just right for you. You are in charge of the journey, my role is to be alongside you, to guide you on the safest options, and to offer suggestions and tools to experiment with to work out what is useful for you.
To get where you want to go, the journey can be short and sometimes longer. I will help you to get a realistic idea of the time needed for the journey.
I offer a few different options for individual therapy:
Psychotherapy: This is a journey where we explore deeper or more complex things to work out the root of the difficulty. This process usually starts with developing a therapeutic relationship alongside developing resources and coping strategies, and then using different methods to explore what is happening, what you might want to change, how to change it, and support in changing it. It can be difficult to quantify how long that journey will be, but we would usually have a review every 8 sessions, to reflect and get a sense of where we are in the journey, your current needs and where we are heading.
The following are suggestions for shorter therapy journeys. Sometimes people decide after these that they want to continue with psychotherapy straight away or in the future. Each of these options can be integrated into a longer psychotherapy journey.
Coping and Calming Skills: Usually an 8-week block of sessions that includes us developing a relationship and sharing different strategies to help you to feel calm and in control. Sometimes these sessions are useful to do alongside a caregiver, particularly with primary-school-aged children who are less likely to be able to self-regulate yet and will need an adult to help them.
Nature Connection-focused Calming Skills: These sessions could be with an individual or with a family together, exploring ways to feel calm using nature connection. The sessions could be for a couple of hours or done over a series of sessions, depending on your needs and preferences.
Yoga Therapy focused Calming and Coping Skills: These sessions could be with an individual or with one or more family members together, exploring ways to feel calm using movement, mindfulness, sound, and breath. These could be individual one-off sessions or regular weekly, fortnightly, or monthly sessions.
EMDR specific: Usually a minimum of 8 sessions. The first few sessions focus on developing resources and building a relationship, the next sessions include the EMDR process and the next sessions to consolidate and to end. Sometimes these sessions can be done intensively, where my availability allows so that you can do 8 sessions over a few days. For sessions with younger children, it is sometimes useful for caregivers to be present and included in the process.
FAQs
What ages do you work with?
I offer child and adolescent psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling for 5- 18 year olds. I also offer therapy for adults, see here for information.
How long are the sessions?
Each session lasts 50 minutes. The appointments usually take place at the same time each week unless we agree on something different.
How many sessions will be needed?
At the initial session, we will discuss whether therapy will be suitable and whether we all agree that we are a good fit.
We will discuss what would be useful based on availability, goals of therapy, and finances.
Usually, we will then agree to 8 sessions, with the eighth session a review to see where we are up to and whether we want to continue. I tend to continue in that pattern, even if we are working longer-term.
If you or your child/adolescent wants to end therapy, I ask that you give at least one session notice so that we can have at least one ending session.
Cost
Initial session (on Zoom) £30
The usual session cost is a sliding scale £55-70 for 50 minutes. This includes any time needed to fill in paperwork.
More info on the sliding scale and concession rates here.
What are Vanessa's qualifications and professional body memberships?
I am UKCP accredited. I have a Masters (MSc) in Integrative Psychotherapy, specifically for working with children and adolescents (as well as additional separate diplomas in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling with adults, and with children and adolescents). I am also trained in Somatic Trauma Therapy, EMDR, Sensorimotor Guided Drawing for Trauma, Yoga Therapy, Movement for Trauma and various other trainings and certificates. Please see the Credentials page for more information.
What is Vanessa’s experience working with children?
I have been working with children and adolescents for over twenty years. I have worked as a psychotherapist at CAMHS, the NHS and in schools. Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I worked as a Primary School Teacher, SEND teacher in a school for autistic children, and as a Youth Worker. I have also worked as a forest school leader for over ten years.
I have experience of working with children and adolescents who are experiencing PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, selective mutism, separation anxiety, developmental trauma and ADHD.
I have worked with young people who want to feel more in control of overwhelming emotions, more able to make decisions and hold boundaries, to feel more grounded and centred, to feel stable and safe, to feel certain about being valuable, capable, lovable, powerful, and equal.
Do caregivers need to be present at all the sessions?
I ask that caregivers be present at the initial session. After that, I ask that a trusted adult be available but not in the sessions.
It may be that a child needs IT support if a session is online, or some help with something during the session, so it is important that they can easily access that.
At in-person sessions, caregivers usually wait in the waiting room or in their vehicles while their child is in the session.