Parents and families
The parents and families I work with tend to feel a bit lost….
There can be a sense of failure or anger that children are not doing what they are told, confusion over which behaviour management strategies to use, constant reports or inaction and denial from the school and challenges with being out in the community.
It might be that their mood/behaviour has changed, they do not want to go to school or attend clubs they usually enjoy, are being rude or angry with family members, having tantrums or meltdowns which seem to come out of nowhere and small things might feel impossible such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, switching from gaming or TV to mealtimes and going to sleep.
As for yourselves and family members, perhaps you are walking on eggshells around your children, siblings are not getting on, meal times feel uncomfortable, family activities and trips have gone out the window, arguments are happening between caregivers about the best way to parent or respond to situations and your relationship with school has broken down as you both see different types of behaviour and use contrasting support skills.
So how can I help, and what can we do together?
Parent Consultations
My recommendation is a series of parent consultations that will either lead to child and adolescent therapy, family therapy or signposting to further support. These weekly sessions offer a space to share your challenges and experiences as a family, with support and strategies for moving forwards. Read more about them in the box on the right >>
Family therapy
When I am working with a child, I sometimes find that the parent consultations need to go a bit deeper. In this case, I offer space for all the family to be included in therapy.
This is done in support of the child in therapy and allows for me to observe family interactions, mediate in challenging situations and generally support the family unit as a whole, taking much of the pressure away from the child who is in therapy as the ‘scapegoat.
If you’d like to arrange a parent consultation or family therapy, please contact me.
PARENT CONSULTATIONS
These are weekly sessions on Google Meets or in person, designed with four main aims:
Therapeutic space for you to share what is going on and how it is impacting you and the family
Psychoeducation in the form of discussion around neurodiversity, child development and other themes that come up from the therapeutic space
Management strategies that you can implement between sessions for feedback in the next session
Bringing it all together so that different threads of home, school and community feel less siloed.
Sessions include me reading any reports that you might have from Educational or Occupational Psychologists, EHCP plans, neurodiversity assessments and anything else that will help me see what other professionals have observed. These then inform the parent consultation aims and future plans.