Working With Young People
The challenges facing young people today vary from anxiety and depression to self-harm and psychosis, and this is in addition to dealing with the backlash from gun and knife crime, social media, cyber bulling, CSE (child sexual exploitation) and many other issues.
Parents and carers are faced with the daily challenge of the many questions frequently raised by young people:
- What do we do now?
- How could this have happened?
- Why did this happen?
The mind-set of young people means they often expect to receive instant answers to these questions, however, it is often difficult for parents to explain and understand the situation themselves.
I pull on a wealth of experience from my years of working with young people in a mentoring setting combined with my main counselling training and experience in Transactional Analysis.
I work with young people, first supporting them through life’s challenges and then helping them navigate adolescence. This takes time and patience and a range of tools are used including CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy), as well as the more practical tools of music, art and relaxation techniques which are often used to support self-expression when words are unreachable.
I work with young people aged 13+ following parental consent.
Parents are invited to the first meeting with their child in order to make an informed decision about their child’s therapy. My duty of care when working with young people means that any concerns I have regarding further risk of harm will be fed back and reported to the appropriate authority whether parents, carers or social care.
I also attend regular supervision with a Child Psychotherapist and Supervisor and have undergone the following training:
- CPD – Annual Safeguarding Training
- MHFA – Mental Health First Aider – Young People
- DBS – Disclosure & Barring Services – Clear Enhance Check