Hayley Lake
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hi there! My name is Hayley and I am a counsellor who specialises in working with children and young people (CYP). I am passionate about giving a voice to my young clients and am dedicated to ensuring that they feel valued and respected throughout their time in therapy and are given the opportunities to share their experiences freely and feel heard and listened to.
I am an Integrative therapist, which means that I use a variety of therapeutic approaches and will adapt these to the needs/wishes of my clients. I take a very humanistic approach when working with children and young people. The main approaches I use are person-centred therapy, solution-focused therapy, creative therapy and play therapy. However, there are times when my adolescent clients may benefit from a different form of therapy, for example: psychodynamic, cognitive, gestalt or even family therapy if there are struggles between them and other family members, and so I do also use these with my clients.
Nevertheless, although the approach we use in therapy is important, the therapeutic relationship between you and myself is at the centre. I will ensure that you feel safe and comfortable in our sessions. I provide my clients with a safe and supportive therapeutic space to talk about their experiences and express their thoughts and feelings freely and without judgement. Sessions are catered to my clients' age and stage of development, individual needs, and goals for therapy.
Training, qualifications & experience
I trained as a therapist with The University of Northampton and achieved my Masters (MSc) in Counselling with Children and Young People in July 2020 and gained a Grade Distinction. I also have a First-Class BA (Hons) Degree in Childhood and Family Studies and Education Studies from The University of Wolverhampton. Before this I worked for 5 years as a Early Years Practitioner at Busy Bees Day Nursery in Burntwood and so have a wealth of experience with babies, toddlers and pre-school age children, including an in-depth understanding the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and children's development.
I have been providing one-to-one therapy to children and young people in primary and secondary schools for over 6 years.
- From June 2018-March 2020 I worked on a voluntary basis for Place2Be.
- From September 2020-December 2020 I worked as a therapist at a Grammar School - here I provided individual and group sessions to students aged 7-18 and also taught wellbeing lessons as a part of the school's wellbeing and pastoral programme.
- From March 2021-December 2021 I worked in the Special Educational Needs and Development (SEND) Department of a secondary school to provide one-to-one in-class support to students with ADHD, Autism, Sensory-Processing Disorder and other additional learning needs.
- Currently I am employed as a Mental Health Practitioner (MHP) for the charity Place2Be - I spend 5 days per week working in a primary school, providing one-to-one therapy and group interventions to children. A significant part of my work is also working with families. As part of my role I am a trained Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and so am fully equipped to deal with safeguarding concerns that might arise. I work in-line with all relevant policies, procedures and statutory guidance required to protect children and young people from harm.
- I have private practice on weekday evenings.
I hold up-to-date training in vast areas of Safeguarding & Child Protection and these are all revisited on an annual basis - All of the CPD below is now due for renewal between July 2025 and December 2025.
- Prevent Duty - Protecting CYP against Radicalisation and Extremism
- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
- Honor-Based Abuse (HBA) & Forced Marriage
- Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) & Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
- County Lines
- Domestic Abuse/Violence
- Online Safety
- GDPR training
- Suicide Prevention - Protecting CYP from Suicide Ideation and Self-Harm
- Level 3 Advanced Self-Harm training
- Advanced Safeguarding & Adult Safeguarding
- Peer-on-Peer Abuse (Keeping Children Safe in Education - KCSIE)
Additionally, I hold a vast amount of therapy-related training that are again revisited as frequently as possible and/or when a new area of clinical interest comes up for myself:
- Barriers to school attendance
- Bereavement and Loss
- Emotional Dysregulation
- Low confidence & Low self-esteem in CYP
- Care Experienced Children - Supporting CYP who are Looked After (LAC)
- Neurodivergence/SEND - Autism, ADHD and other learning needs
- Low mood, Sadness and Depression in CYP
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Phobias in CYP
- Eating Disorders - how these present in CYP and the implications to their mental health (please note - due to my duty of care to protect my clients, I am likely to signpost them to the relevant professionals if an eating disorder is recognised during our therapeutic work together).
- Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation (please note - although I am able to work with these concerns, if the risk to a client is too high or immediate, then I must refer them to the relevant professionals).
- Attachment Theory & Attachment Styles in CYP and Families
- Anxiety & Stress - including Exam stress
- Transition and Change for CYP
- Mother-Daughter relationships (December 2024)
- Treating Trauma with Internal Family Systems Therapy (December 2024)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Essentials (December 2024)
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) and therefore follow the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions, including respecting confidentiality. My BACP registration number is 381360. To further ensure I am practicing safely, I have indemnity insurance and fortnightly supervision.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£45.00 per session
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I know myself how expensive counselling can be and so I try my best to make the sessions as affordable as possible for you.
I charge £45 for all sessions (including face-to-face and online/phone)
*Session prices for face-to-face home visits may vary due to travel costs
I take payments via bank transfer.
I will not make you commit to attending regular sessions if this is not what you want or can afford. If you aren’t sure whether you can afford therapy or not, please do still contact me as it may be possible for me to offer you a slightly reduced rate depending on your situation.
When I work
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I provide weekday evening sessions up until 9pm
Further information
How can therapy help me? - Talking about your experiences and the thoughts and feelings that you have felt because of these can be difficult, especially if talking about them is not something you have ever done properly before. With the help of a therapist such as myself, you will be given the chance to express your thoughts and feelings freely and without judgement whilst in a safe and confidential space. I am dedicated to ensuring that you feel valued and respected throughout your time in therapy and are given the opportunities to share your experiences and to feel heard and listened to.
Do I need to have a 'goal' before coming to counselling? - If you have a goal in mind that you would like to achieve then that’s great, we can work towards this together by exploring your thoughts and feelings and by helping you to find new coping strategies to reach your goal/s. However, it's sometimes hard to know exactly what goals you have straight away, but don’t worry because this is something we can work on together during your sessions.
