Welcome to the Children & Adolescent Clinic
Children and their families can encounter a whole range of behavioural and emotional problems for which professional support can help.
At Hampshire & Surrey Psychology Children’s clinic we recognise that childhood and adolescence may not always be easy for young people or their families. When difficulties do arise it may be that they, and you, need a little extra help to get through. If your child or teenagers difficulties start interfering with their life, or with family life, professional help can make all the difference.
We provide a high quality assessment, counselling and therapy service to assist in easing psychological distress and promoting emotional well-being in children ranging from preschool to late teens/young adult and their families. We work in a collaborative manner, working with families to gain a full understanding of the difficulties and determine the most effective way forward. This may involve one-to-one sessions with children or young people; sessions where parents attend with their child/children; family sessions; or group sessions where young people or families with similar concerns work together to find solutions.
Our approach is flexible and adapted to the needs of the individual or family.
The Child & Adolescent Clinic is part of Hampshire and Surrey Psychology and we are registered with the Health & Care Professions Council.Who We Can Help
- Anxiety (fears, phobias, worries, obsessions, OCD)
- Depression and low mood
- Trauma
- Self Harm
- Challenging behaviours/tantrums
- Pre-school Problems
- Learning Difficulties
- Anger & aggression
- Attachment problems
- Attention and concentration problems
- Self esteem
- Family relationships
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Preschool difficulties (eating, sleeping, toileting, tantrums)
- Problem Eating
- Adjustment to life events (divorce, changing schools, bereavement)
- Bullying & peer relationships
- Parenting
We help children, adolescents and their families who may be experiencing behavioural or emotional problems.
We are always happy to discuss any difficulties that you or your child may be experiencing even if it is not listed above. There is no obligation to make an appointment, so please do give us a call on 02381 661 208 or send us an email at info@hampshirepsychology.co.uk . In circumstances where we are unable to help we will endeavor to point you in the direction of the appropriate services.
In addition to providing psychological assessment and therapy, we at Hampshire & Surrey Psychology Children’s Clinic are also able to offer cognitive assessments for children aged 5 - 18 years old.
Cognitive assessments include a 2 hour assessment plus feedback session and provide a detailed cognitive profile, details of strengths and weaknesses across different aspects of intelligence (including processing speed, working memory, verbal reasoning, and spatial skills) as well as overall IQ scores.
How We Help
Psychologists always carry out a thorough assessment of the problem first with you and your child, this is usually one session but may be several, depending on the severity and complexity of the issues. Before we can begin any therapy, we need to find out how the problem started (there might be several interacting causes) and what combination of factors now are helpful or unhelpful or that might be helping to maintain the problem. This understanding will be shared and discussed with you and with your child (as appropriate for their age and stage of development). If a diagnosis is appropriate then this would be explained and discussed with you too.
Once we understand the problem, we can then map out and advise on a programme of therapy that is going to be most effective for you. It's of primary importance that we work collaboratively, that you and your child build a comfortable and trusting relationship with your psychologist and that you are able to ask any questions of us and provide feedback.
Clinical Psychology training is broad based and lengthy (6-7 years), so that, in addition to expert assessment, psychotherapy and counselling skills we are also trained to use and adapt a wide range of effective therapeutic approaches to the needs of you and your child. Some of these are below.
ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Assessment Service
We are able to offer an assessment and diagnosis service for Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs)/Asperger’s syndrome. These assessments can help you to better understand your own strengths and difficulties. It may be beneficial for you to spend some time before your assessment considering how you would like your life to be different or what you would like to be doing which you currently aren’t, e.g. making friends, having a more varied job or living more independently. These goals or aims can help inform how we consider making recommendations or supporting you following the assessment. We use formal assessment measures as recommended by The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a tested therapeutic approach which has been adapted for a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety and eating problems. It has been adapted for children and teenagers and has been shown to be highly effective. CBT helps children and teenagers to think about the relationship between their thoughts/beliefs (cognitions) and behaviour. It suggests that the way they think about an event is responsible for how they feel about that event. Importantly, CBT also suggests that the way someone feels is dependent on what they do (behaviour). We know that different people have different reactions to the same event, so it is your interpretation of that event that leads to your particular emotional reaction. Therefore if we can help someone to think differently about an event, or act differently in response, then they will begin to feel differently.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
for self harm and destructive behaviours
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is another tested and evidenced-based treatment originally developed by Marsha Linehan to help adults diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (also known as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD)) who self-harm or resort to self-destructive ways of managing their emotions. DBT has been adapted for working with teenagers and young adults who may be experiencing overwhelming emotions, low self esteem, difficulties in relationships with family and friends and who may be self-harming. In DBT we understand that self harm is a young persons attempt to solve the problem of these overwhelming negative emotions and so the therapy takes a dual approach. In addition to helping the young person to understand their difficulties and identify goals to work on to get their life back on track it also importantly teaches skills to help the young person to learn other, more helpful ways of managing their emotions and of dealing with their relationships.Chartered Psychologists are bound by and are registered and regulated by the Health and Caring Professions Council
Who We Are
Clinical Psychologists are trained to assess, diagnose if appropriate and treat mental health problems in children, teenagers and adults. Training to become a Clinical Psychologist is lengthy and extensive (a minimum of 7 years involving working with a wide range of different age groups and difficulties), which means we are qualified to treat a range of psychological problems using a number of different therapies.
To find out how to get support from a Clinical Psychologist please visit our Trusted Partners page