Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for children and young people:
Child and adolescent psychotherapists are rigorously trained to understand and respond to what children and young people communicate in their behaviour and words. Through the psychotherapists observations and understanding of the deeper levels of an individual’s emotional and internal world, they can be helped to make sense of what they feel and do.
Child and adolescent psychotherapists treat a wide range of difficulties that can impact personal development, relationships with family and peers and affect a child’s capacity to learn at school.
Difficulties may include:
- Sadness, worry, aggressive behaviour, insecurity and lack of confidence.
- More serious mental health problems such as self-harm, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, oppositional and uncontrolled behaviour, and learning difficulties.
- Children and young people suffering with the impact of neglect and abuse.
Helping a child and their parents or carers understand the conflicts and anxieties underlying their difficulties, allows the child to develop there potential both individually and within the world around them.
I (or sometimes a colleague) will meet regularly with parents and carers to discuss the child’s overall progress. It is important to the psycho-therapeutic process to maintain a child’s confidentiality with regard to the details of the sessions unless the child feels it is important to speak with parents. I would then do so as soon as possible, with the child’s knowledge.
Therapeutic consultations to parents and carers:
The aim of therapeutic consultations with parents or carers is to facilitate a sense of understanding about their child’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour. This type of consultation works to throw light upon how a parent or carer’s experience of growing up shapes their expectations of their children and how parental emotional conflicts affect their parenting style.
Consultations & Supervision: to individuals and organisations working with children, young people and vulnerable young adults:
Working with challenging and troubled children is often a complex and emotionally demanding occupation. As well as behaviour that causes us anxiety, children often live within a context of disturbed families. Troubled and damaged children and young people often arouse a multitude of difficult feelings that professionals have to bear such as; hopelessness, despair, fear and immense anxiety. The work often requires an intense level of work at an emotional level.
As a psychoanalytically trained psychotherapist I can utilise my knowledge and understanding of child development and a child’s inner world to offer supervision, consultations and training to help professionals manage the powerful emotional impact generated by working with children and families in distress on individual workers and on the professional network.
