I am qualified and experienced in working with young people age 10+. I have volunteered and worked for some incredible organisations, schools and colleges over the years and have finally landed in private practice. I have worked for Off the Record (Bristol), The Isle Of Wight Youth Trust, Bristol City College and Young Devon (Plymouth).

There are differences in the counselling skills and developmental knowledge required to work with this age group. My approach is to make counselling as relaxed and accessible as possible.

-To normalise having a space to share and explore thoughts and feelings

-To empower young people to make choices where they can and to make sense of what they think and feel.

-To gain skills to navigate some of the difficulties they are facing and gain knowledge of how and why the body and mind react as they do. We call this psychoeducation.

Young people, like adults ,are entitled to a confidential space in therapy. There are some safeguarding circumstances where I would break confidentiality which I make clear from the beginning of our time together- they are-  if I had reason to believe that someone was causing harm to them, that they were at risk of causing harm to another or at serious risk of causing harm to themselves.

In private practice I am able to work with families if needed which can add further support to certain issues that the young people present.

Counselling is about facilitating expression of thoughts and feelings which in itself can be cathartic and can bring understanding. I use a range of tools to support this expression such as art therapy , sand tray and psychoeducation tools. I take into account any special needs or neurodiversity and have a neuro- affirming practice.

Finally I believe that young people should be involved in the search and choosing of their therapy. Therapy should always be a choice. After a first session with me I always tell the young person to have a think about if they would like to see me again. If they choose not to then I believe that the best outcome for them will be to find another therapist that they do feel that they can work better with.