Psychotherapy and counselling for children and adolescents
in Staveley, Kendal and online
Children and young people come to therapy for all sorts of reasons, including anxiety, difficulties with friendships or relationships, overwhelming emotions, low mood, distressing experiences, and trauma. I have experience of working with children and adolescents who have experienced developmental and relational trauma, including those experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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 where 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 consultation sessions are online; this is usually with just the caregiver/s, so that the caregiver/s are able to speak freely about the child’s and your history. We would then have a session with the child and caregiver to explore what your child would like support with. Further sessions can be in-person.
These first sessions together are not ‘therapy sessions’, 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 Child and Adolescent 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, 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.
I have extensive experience of working with neurodivergent children and young people, including autistic children and those with ADHD. I recognise that children experience, communicate and express themselves in different ways, and adapt therapy to each child's individual needs and preferences.
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:
Child and Adolescent 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.
Shorter Therapy Options
Child counselling is usually a shorter therapy journey, helping your child cope in their day-to-day life. Child psychotherapy can be a longer journey, exploring what has caused the problems and ways to process what has happened to improve quality of life now.
Sometimes people decide after a shorter journey that they want to continue with psychotherapy straight away or in the future. Each of these options can also be integrated into a longer psychotherapy journey.
Coping and Calming Skills for children and adolescents
Usually, an 8-week block of sessions that includes us developing a relationship and sharing different strategies to help you feel calm and in control.
Sometimes these sessions are useful to do alongside a caregiver, particularly with primary-school-aged children who may need an adult to help them regulate their emotions.
Nature Connection-focused Calming Skills for children and adolescents
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.
You can read more about my nature-connected approach to therapy.
Yoga Therapy focused on Calming and Coping Skills for children and adolescents
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.
You can read more about Yoga Therapy here.
EMDR for children and adolescents
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) can help children and young people process distressing experiences and memories.
The first sessions focus on developing resources, building a therapeutic relationship and preparing for the EMDR process. Further sessions may include EMDR processing, followed by time to consolidate the work and prepare for ending.
For younger children, it can sometimes be useful for caregivers to be present and included in the process.
I also offer EMDR intensives, where my availability allows and where this is appropriate for the child or young person. You can read more about EMDR Therapy and Intensives here.
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.
How long are the sessions?
Sessions for children aged under 14 are for 45 minutes, and 50 minutes for those aged 14 and over.
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 two sessions' notice so that we can have at least one ending session.
Cost
Initial session (on Zoom) £50
The usual session fee is £80
If you qualify for a concession fee (Concession Sliding Scale information available here), please check to see if I have a concession space available.
No matter the length of the session/ age, the session fee is the same. It is common for therapists to charge more for work with younger children to allow for the tendency of the increased expense of materials and for an increase in the time required for clearing up after play therapy sessions, etc. Instead, I reduce the time of sessions slightly as I find that making the sessions slightly shorter can also be beneficial to the child’s capacity.
What are Vanessa's qualifications and professional body memberships?
I am a UKCP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, with extensive specialist training and experience in working therapeutically with children and young people.
There are different training routes for therapists working with children and adolescents, and the qualifications and specialist training they have completed can vary considerably. The title 'child counsellor' alone doesn't necessarily tell you the extent of someone's training or experience.
My specialist child and adolescent psychotherapy training involved five years of study, alongside an additional 450 hours of supervised clinical practice exclusively with children and adolescents, as well as personal therapy and clinical supervision throughout my training.
My training included understanding child development, the different ways children communicate and express themselves, and how to adapt psychotherapy to their developmental and emotional needs.
I also completed separate training and additional supervised clinical practice hours to qualify as an Adult Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, and am UKCP-registered in both areas.
My qualifications include an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy, a Diploma in Child Psychotherapy, and separate Diplomas in Psychotherapeutic Counselling with Adults and with Children and Adolescents.
I have undertaken additional training in Somatic Trauma Therapy, EMDR specifically for children and adolescents, Sensorimotor Guided Drawing for Trauma, Yoga Therapy and Movement for Trauma, amongst other approaches.
You can find further information about my training, qualifications and professional registrations on my Credentials page.
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, a SEND horticulture and forest school teacher in a school for autistic children and adolescents, and as a Youth Worker. I have also worked as a forest school leader for over ten years.
I have experience 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 the session is online, such as for the consultation session, 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 outside the space while their child is in the session.
Should I be in therapy too?
Whilst it is not an essential requirement of working with your child, I very much recommend parents/ caregivers to also have therapy, where possible, as usually whatever the child has experienced has often impacted the parents too, or the child's response has impacted parents. If you require a recommendation for a therapist, please let me know.
Do you recommend any books that might be useful for parents to read?
Yes! You can find a list of books and videos that I recommend here:
Link to Bookshop UK Reading List