Latest articles on counselling and therapy

With one in five (21%) of us knowing someone who lost a parent or sibling as a child and an overwhelming 92% of young people experiencing a significant bereavement before the age of 16, knowing how to support a bereaved child through the holidays can be extremely tough. Childhood grief Children may feel guilty or ashamed for experiencing moments of happiness after the death of a family member, or they may express anger that celebrations are still going on without the presence of the...

Things change. With the way the world constantly changes around us, things can feel overwhelming as an adult, let alone to children who may be experiencing a big change for the first time. While many kids encounter small changes during the first few years of their lives, big changes are unavoidable. From the first time kids are away from their parents, to their first day of school, sooner or later they will experience their first big change.

Big changes can feel scary and tough no matter...

One of the fastest growing forms of bullying, cyberbullying can be even more persistent and hard to spot. For many, it can feel like digital bullying knows no boundaries. With almost 30% of young people spending over four hours each day on social media, do you know how your child or teen is behaving online?

The YoungMinds’ Safety Net Report revealed young people are spending more and more time online. 61% of young people surveyed admitted to signing up for their first social media...

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia is thought to affect anywhere between five to 10% of the population in the UK. Whilst most commonly spoken about in relation to children (often alongside dyslexia), both adults and children can be affected by dyspraxia in a number of different ways.

Dyspraxia affects individuals motor coordination and can affect their general coordination. Varying between each person who experiences it, some find that the extent to which...

How often do you pay attention to the terms and conditions before ticking accept when you sign up to a new website or download a new app? The chances are, you glance through at best, or more likely, scroll past to that little checkbox at the very end. If that’s how many of us act online as ‘responsible adults’, how often do children and teens pay attention to what they're really signing up for?

As part of YoungMinds and The Children’s Society’s inquiry into net safety, they discovered...

Whether we like it or not, kids are going online sooner than we may think. With an ever changing digital landscape, it’s imperative that we make sure children and teens are equipped with the tools and know the right behaviours and expectations to keep them safe online.

Helping young people learn how to spot the warning signs that something may be wrong, and making sure they know where to turn if they feel uncomfortable or encounter something that upsets them is vital in helping them to...

Do you sometimes, as a parent, worry about your child? Is he/she ok? Have you noticed that your child has become more withdrawn? Do you know their friends? As parents in the last decade or so, we have more concerns about our child’s wellbeing than ever before. They are exposed to so many different platforms of social media, such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc. There is a greater need for young people to be well liked, popular or be socially accepted. Young people turn to...

I sometimes think that every person who pursues a career in psychotherapy must have had a parent with a narcissistic personality. How else could our sixth sense have become so well tuned, our intuition so finely honed? The child of a narcissistic parent has to develop an extra awareness, an extra alertness to the slightest nuances of the parent's mood. He can "see" changes almost before they happen. In this way he learns to remain safe. Imagine the difficulties such a child must encounter...

We’ve all been there: that awful moment in a supermarket, the cinema, or a restaurant where no matter what we try, our child won’t stop screaming or crying as loud as they can. They can’t be reasoned with, and waiting it out can seem impossibly long, embarrassing, or just plain exhausting. Everybody worries about their child learning to control their emotions.

Helping kids learn how to deal with negative emotions doesn’t mean we are trying to stop them from feeling or expressing those...