Children and teenagers

We offer counselling to children and young people from the age of 8 years old. This is on a face-to-face basis only for children age 8 to 13 years and for teenagers over 14 years of age we can also offer sessions face-to-face or by video call, parents are welcome to contact us to discuss this. Additionally we offer Play Therapy to children of primary school age.

Children and teenagers are normally seen initially with a parent/guardian present, although from around the age of 14, teenagers, if it is deemed appropriate, can request counselling without parental/guardian consent.

The sessions are normally 45 minutes long and there are various possibilities for counselling:

• The child and parent/guardian are seen together for the counselling sessions, which is sometimes the preferred option for younger children.

• The child/teenager is seen on their own

• Sometimes another member of the family is invited to a session if the child/teenager requests this and sees it as helpful.

We also offer a phone/online consultation of 1 – 1½ hours, to parents in order to support them in dealing with the dilemmas that their children might be experiencing.

For those wanting Family Therapy, the Family Therapist’s waiting list is currently closed. However, our Family Therapist is offering a one-off consultation of up to 1½ hours to parents in order to discuss ways forward.