Referral You do not require a GP referral to access this service. You can enquire about services and self refer via the ‘Contact’ section of this website.
Consultation Should you contact me to consider therapeutic support, a short telephone conversation will be offered to discuss you and your child’s needs. Consultation allows us to jointly consider the appropriateness of the referral and also, acts as an opportunity for you for to reflect on how I might be a good fit for you and your child,
Please note all sessions are currently virtual. Initial Appointment Following consultation, should you wish to proceed and if we agree that psychology intervention is indicated as appropriate, we will schedule an initial appointment at your convenience. Who attends your first appointment is dependent on clinical need, age of child and nature of problem. We can discuss this prior to the appointment. Typically I advise that the initial appointment is attended by parents only.
The initial appointment with parent, informs assessment, which usually takes place over the first few sessions. The aim being to better understand the presenting concerns, strengths and protective factors from the perspectives of the individual and relevant significant others. A period of assessment acts as an opportunity for us to develop a shared understanding of the problem across time and your hopes and goals for therapy; this is achieved through answering verbal questions and where appropriate, questionnaires. Our shared understanding informs clinical recommendations and course of therapy.
In agreement with yourself and after several sessions, a short letter addressed to your child’s GP will be written, providing a clinical summary of the concern, detailing recommendations and treatment plan.
Please note a parent is to remain on hand throughout all appointments, even if they are not active participants in the session.
Intervention and Treatment Should you wish to pursue treatment and assessment indicates that it would be beneficial, we will discuss and develop a treatment plan that both you and your child consent to. We will agree an initial number of sessions, their frequency and the time at which to review. It is not unusual for treatment plans to evolve as we learn and understand more about a presenting problem.
Confidentiality Whilst therapy is confidential, should a client disclose an issue of risk to themselves or others in the past, present or future, I may have to break confidentially and speak with other organisations. In these instances, I will endeavour to talk with you first, if assessed safe to do so. I also, as part of my professional requirements, work under regular supervision. This means I may sometimes discuss your case with a colleague to inform my clinical practice.