Walking alongside young people and adults on their personal journey...
I work with children age 12+
In my experience young people often struggle to name their feelings or talk about what might be going on for them. As I offer creative ways of working I can help make this a little bit easier by introducing a variety of alternative ways to talking that can open up feelings and help someone find a way through their difficulty.
I will always adapt therapy to the individual and try to work in a way that suits them, my aim is to help young people feel comfortable enough to share their story. I believe relationship is essential to healing so I will always offer a safe, confidential and compassionate space to help this process.
Being able to relate to young people has always been a strength and I recognise how privilidged I am being able to have an insight into their inner worlds. Having an opportunity to help young people feel happier and more comfortable in their lives is a special part of my role.
It is important that young people and their parents or guardians understand the nature of confidentiality in a counselling relationship. Anyone aged under 18 is still entitled to confidentiality - so anything a child or young person tells me stays between me and them. However, there are some very important exceptions to this:
What is said in the counselling room stays in the counselling room unless:
* you tell me that you are being hurt, either by yourself or by someone else.
* you are going to hurt someone.
* you ask me to share something with someone.
There are times when I think it might be really important or really helpful for you if a parent or guardian can get to know something you have shared and if I think this is the case I will talk with you about it. If you agree to me sharing you can either choose to tell them yourself, I can support you in telling them or I can tell them for you. It is all about making things easier for you to feel happier in your life and sometimes you might just need a bit of help to talk things through with your parent or guardian if you haven't as yet felt able to do that.