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Counselling for Children

Counselling for Children and Young People

Children and young people can sometimes find it difficult to talk and express themselves. This can lead to thoughts and feelings that are distressing or even overwhelming. As a parent or carer, you may have recognised that your child is struggling but might be unsure what to do. Perhaps they are not talking about what is troubling them – or just the opposite, they are telling you everything, but nothing seems to change for the better or gets resolved.

North East Counselling Services provides counselling for children, from a young age and into teenage years (up to age 18). Our children’s counsellors offer a safe and confidential place for your child to talk through their problems and issues.

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Common issues that bring children and young people to Counselling include:

Self-acceptance/low self esteem

Loss or bereavement

School issues

Self harm

Anxiety

Low mood

Bullying

Parents separating or divorcing

Changing school

Anger

Friendship Issues

Stress

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Counselling for Children of all Ages

Counselling for Younger Children

Younger children tend to express themselves through play – showing how they feel rather than saying what is happening for them.

Depending on your child’s age, the counsellor may use toys, games and craft activities to help the child express their emotions. This will then enable the counsellor to work with your child to deal with the issues that have brought them to therapy.

Counselling for an older child or teenager

With older children and teenagers, the counsellor will use a different approach – based more on talking therapies.

We are conscious that coaxing out the issues can, at first, be a slow process. To help in this, the counsellor will initially make it a priority to build the therapeutic relationship with your child or young person. This means focusing on talking together and letting the young person speak in their own way about the feelings they are experiencing. In this way the counsellor and the young person build a foundation for the young person to find solutions to their problems and issues.

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Children's Therapy

Counselling Locations, Times and Prices

Face to Face Sessions

Sessions with the counsellor would take place at our main office in Blaydon, or at our counselling rooms in Pelaw.

Telephone Counselling & Online Therapy

We also offer remote therapy, in the form of telephone and online counselling.

Pricing

Counselling for a child or young person costs £65 per session.

Appointment Times

We counsel children and young people at the following times:

Monday to Friday – 9am to 8pm
Saturday – 9am to 4pm

Appointment Length

Our face-to-face counselling, telephone counselling and online counselling sessions usually last 50 minutes.

Data Privacy

We are fully committed to keeping safe the data that you and your child share with us.

FAQs about our Adult Counselling Services

Still got a question? Find out everything you need to know about our Children’s Counselling services below, from taking the first step, to pricing and how we handle your data. Alternatively, please contact us if you would like more information.

Our face-to-face counselling, telephone counselling and online counselling sessions usually last 50 minutes.

Sessions can be face to face, over the telephone, and online. Face to face sessions with your counsellor would take place at our main office in Blaydon, or at our counselling rooms in Pelaw.

Our online therapy is via Microsoft Teams video calls. If you opt for online counselling, then before each session your counsellor will send the Teams link for your session to the email address that you have provided to us. You will need access to a Microsoft Teams account in order to obtain your counselling in this way.  If you don’t currently have access to Teams, then you will be able to download the Teams app, using the information that we send to you before your counselling session.

The counsellor working with your child will aim to meet them weekly – usually at the same time and on the same day each week. If you are funding your child’s counselling privately, then the number of sessions is flexible and there is no specific limit. Instead, your child or young person, supported by you and their counsellor, will work together to agree the number of counselling sessions they will have.

 

When children have their counselling paid for by the NHS or other public or grant funds, they are usually offered 12 sessions – though in special circumstances this can sometimes be extended.

Children & young people's counselling costs £65 per session.

When you request counselling for your child, we will ask you for some basic details, including, your child’s:

  • Address
  • Date of birth

 

So that we can arrange counselling, we will ask about the:

  • Days of the week and times of day when they could attend
  • Location(s) they could come to for counselling

 

To help us to understand your child’s needs, we will also ask why you are requesting counselling for your child. This is also an opportunity for you to share with us any other the important information that you need us to know.

We are committed to keeping safe the data that you and your child share with us.

 

If your child is under the age 16, we will ask you to read our Privacy Policy – which we will send to you before your child’s first counselling session. This sets out how we securely store your child’s data, as well as providing other information about your child’s rights.

If your child is aged 16 or over then we will ask them to read and agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy.

At your child’s first session with a counsellor, if we feel that the issues your child or young person has come to us with (or some other background factors) mean that they would benefit from a different type of therapy or service, which we do not provide, then we will discuss that with you.

We would also do this if, during or at the end of counselling, we felt that your child could benefit from some other support. In addition, we do not diagnose neurodiversity, or specific mental health conditions.

If your child has been referred to North East Counselling Services by the public sector ‘Single Point of Access’, the counselling that we provide will be the same as described above, but the number of sessions will be limited to 12 (unless there are exceptional circumstances).

Children referred to us in that way can be seen at North East Counselling Services offices in Blaydon, or Pelaw, or in their school.

You can request counselling on your child’s behalf. Before requesting counselling, please:

  • Speak to your child and explain that we are a counselling service
  • Tell them a little about what counselling is
  • Check that they have understood.

If your child is 16 years or older and you are going to contact us on their behalf, you will first need to obtain their permission to do that.

A child under the age of 16 can sometimes also legally consent to their own ‘treatment’, such as counselling – if they're believed to have “enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what's involved in their treatment”. This is described as being ‘Gillick Competent’.

Once you’ve spoken to your child about attending counselling, please call us on 0191 4661314, email info@necounselling.org.uk or fill in our online referral form.

What Our Clients Say About Us

My child’s sleep issues improved

My daughter took a long time (at least about five sessions as she gets particularly nervous around men she doesn’t know) to warm up to him. The counsellor never rushed her and my daughter could take her time to get comfortable to speak to him. My daughter has sleep issues and since seeing him, it has improved a lot!! It was helpful to receive a call from the counsellor prior to our daughter’s first session with him as we have histories of mental health issues in our family which something we haven’t discussed with our daughter as she’s still young.

I saw a big difference

I saw a big difference in my child. Thank you for all of your help and support.

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