Children & young people
Behaviour and development - Behaviour is a communication in itself.
Challenging behaviour, expressions of anxiety or signs of depression are all indicators that something might be going wrong in the child or young person’s life. The onset of such symptoms tends to alert parents and carers that there is a problem.
I work with children and young people who are showing outward signs of emotional distress. This may take the form of increased worrying, changes in sleep pattern, loss of interest in activities, compulsive behaviours and social withdrawal.
Anxiety - I find that anxiety responds best to an integrated approach as an anxious young person does not exist in isolation of their family. My aim is to weave together a combination of cognitive behavioural ideas with psychodynamic and systemic ideas.
Depression - I also draw upon an Interpersonal Psychotherapy Approach (IPT). This works equally well with adolescents and adults who are experiencing an episode of depression. The therapy tends to be short term with treatment sessions last over 12 – 16 weeks. It has been shown to be extremely effective as a treatment for depression and has very low relapse rates compared to other approaches.
Lally Freeborn