Empowering Teens to Navigate Mental Health Challenges
+ PARENT SESSIONS!
“We asked Kendall to work with our teen on anxiety matters. We were sceptical as we thought it was one of those teenage things…
In hindsight now, we are so very glad we did. It was the best decision we could have made for our teen and our whole family unit.”
DEAR MUM/DAD/FAMILY, YOUNG PERSON…
My heart goes out to you. Times couldn’t be tougher. You don’t need me to rattle away the staggering headlines and data around young peoples’ mental health and wellness in crisis. Your pain and holding that space for your children’s pain is a lot to carry. So I first want to acknowledge your love and care for your child to help them by looking into providing them professional resources and allowing them the autonomy to work through their experience confidentially. Once in motion, trusting their counselling process may alleviate some of your own fears and anxiety you carry which can strain family relationships.
Why private therapy can be more effective than school-based counselling - Based on my experience counselling in schools, this format doesn’t work for a lot of young people. Just like adult clients, therapy can take time to open up, build a language for your inner workings, and be able to share that with a stranger. Doing this inside the school walls can feel counterintuitive. The distractions or actual issues are often linked to school so school counselling has limits to what it can offer beyond providing a safe haven from being in class. This has its purposes and value of course, but it is unlikely to address the real underlying issues you want help with.
But I’ve got you.
The way I work with young people (age 16+) is unusual in that it’s one of the very few experiences in their young lives where I am not another authority figure. They are in charge. They lead. It is their own safe, confidential space and time to tap into that confusion and uncertainty as well as their unrealised potentials and desires.
I don’t give out rewards, I don’t assign homework. I can offer practical tools and coping mechanisms. I’m looking to build an alliance with you to help navigate these times in your life where there just isn’t a lot of resources and there isn’t a clear map.
For young adults coming out of education (18-25), it can be an even more unclear time where this is a lack of support or opportunity to figure out how to become an adult.
Book a session - I welcome teens (16+) and young adults for after-school sessions. I have direct experience having worked with Place2Be, the largest national mental health charity for young people, and have worked in secondary schools applying creative, dynamic techniques and play as a therapeutic approach. I have an up-to-date DBS.
I’m happy to discuss your child’s concerns and arrange a call-back to see if I can help. Thereafter, the initial consultation is done with the teen/young adult who I work with to decide collaboratively the best way forward. You can book a call-back or consultation below or contact me here.
Parenting support sessions
Are you consumed with worry for your child’s anxiety? Or in a stalemate with a teen who won’t talk?
Or struggling with family dynamics between spouses or siblings? I offer support sessions for parents specific to your needs that will help you:
Understand mental health and the factors that can affect wellbeing in children and adolescents
Become aware of triggers and distress in YP and the mental health continuum a
Enhance your communication skills to engage with YP’s emotional wellbeing
Lift up our blind spots and biases which will allow us to better attune to others and build stronger relations through empathy
“Our teen did the sessions and we took part in a couple parent-only sessions too. It helped us understand why we parent the way we do. This resulted in us being more willing to make behavioural adjustments. Our teen is so much more confident, feels safe (!) and is far less self-destructive. Our family unit is closer and more accepting.”
-Parent
