My Approach
About me
I am a registered Clinical Psychologist specialising in child and family psychology. I work with children and young people of all ages, as well as parents and adults in their own right. I am able to provide a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches for emotional and mental health difficulties, as well as health and developmental conditions.
Since qualifying I have worked in a range of settings, including within a social care family keyworking service, mainstream and specialist NHS CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), for children who were in foster care or adopted. I have eleven years of experience of working within the NHS and am currently working solely in independent practice.
I am a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and member of the BPS Faculty for Children and Families and also registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).
How I work
I am compassion focused in my work and aim to come alongside your child and yourselves to try to get things as good as they can be. I work systemically and always view children as part of a family network.
Assessments
Assessments are usually conducted with a child and parents together, although teenagers may prefer to come alone and for younger children, a parent only assessment session may be an appropriate first step. We will agree this depending on the problem when we arrange an initial assessment for you. A parent only session will usually be recommended soon after assessment.
Therapy approach
This is flexible and we will agree the best plan together. In most cases I will offer child sessions (with a parent often joining for the last 10 minutes of a session) and 1-3 parent sessions alongside this to talk about how you are responding to and supporting your child with any difficulties and to work on supporting parenting skills and further improving family interactions and relationships where helpful. Some sessions may also be held jointly as helpful.
Therapy folders
Depending on the mode of therapy, children and teenagers will often be given a therapy folder in which we will write and draw out what we are working on and will be a source of resources they can share with parents/teachers as helpful and use between sessions and once these have ended. There have been several families who have come back years later and shared how they have continued to use their folders to help them.
Therapy duration
Sessions are usually weekly for a child in a time slot we will identify for them at the outset. It is not possible to give a definite number of sessions at assessment as this will depend on many factors, including the problem, engagement and initial progress, although I will try to give a rough outline. I always work to the minimum number of sessions needed and will gradually work towards an ending with a child in a way which builds their confidence and resilience going forward. It may be possible to reduce session frequency to fortnightly/ monthly reviews for a period to support this transition. I do not tend to offer long term work, although some children, particularly those on the autism spectrum may come back periodically for reviews/ a short block of sessions to work on new challenges.
