Counselling for

Children & Adolescents

Children, even in a wonderful healthy, happy life, experience a full range of emotions. They feel everything so acutely and sometimes they don’t know how to manage those feelings. Anger can feel too big. Sadness can feel too deep. Fear can feel too scary. Excitement can get out of control. Learning how to manage big feelings without big behaviours is very tricky. Children can blame themselves for not getting it right.

Often as parents and caregivers we were never taught how to do manage big feelings ourselves, and so it is impossible to teach our children. We often don’t know how to support them to have these big emotions with big behaviours. This can lead to us as adults to also feeling overwhelmed, which can leave our kids thinking they are alone.

When life gets tough and bad things happen, kids can struggle even more. Many experiences such as busy lives, school bullying, parental relationship breakdown, peer conflicts, pressure to perform at school or sport, feeling lonely, sibling rivalry and traumatic events are far too hard for children to deal with alone.

Additionally, the complexity of navigating how to be a neurodivergent child (with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more) in a neurotypical world also can leave children blaming themselves for not fitting in, having friends, or liking life.

Long gone is the ‘village’. Families are doing it alone.

Counselling can definitely help.

Counselling is a safe place for feelings to be expressed and processed. It’s a place for children to be accepted and heard. New ways of being can be learned, and relationships can be repaired and grow stronger. Children can discover that they have a voice and how to use it wisely.

Adolescent mental health rates are rising. These difficulties begin in childhood. When children are struggling, they create a negative view of themselves. They can take on beliefs about themselves such as “I’m no good’, “No one likes me”, “I’m useless” and “I’m an angry person” which they take with them into their adolescence and adulthood.

With almost twenty years of experience working with children and adolescents, Jo can connect and relate with children in the way they are needing whether it be big loud play, creativity, connection or quiet floor work. Jo is creative and responsive to each child, respecting their uniqueness. She can work with the child and caregiver together, or the child alone. Whatever is best suited to the child and family. Usually, adolescents will work in counselling without the care giver present but this is also responded to according to circumstances and needs.



The process of your child coming to counselling usually looks like this:

After you have reached out to make contact, Jo will have a session with you, the caregiver, to talk one on one about the concerns as you see them. If you are happy to go ahead with therapy, you and your child will come in for an assessment session. Adolescents will usually come alone. Depending on the age of your child this session usually involves playing some games or doing some activities organised by Jo. From there, Jo will meet again with you, the care giver, to collaborate on a way forward. Once a plan has been decided upon together, sessions for your child can begin. Regular ‘parent’ sessions are a part of the ongoing process with counselling children to keep in touch with how things are going at home and school, and if the goals are being reached. This is also a chance for some much-needed parental support.

The goal and plan are reassessed depending on progress and changes of circumstances. When a child or adolescent is working without the care giver in sessions, wherever possible and appropriate the confidentiality of the client is respected.

My goal in working with children is to empower both the children and the parents/care givers. You will be supported to grow with your child, to learn new ways of connecting with your child, and to be a more confident parent. Parallel growth is where everyone in the family wins.