What Is Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy?

Individual child/adolescent psychotherapy aims to bring about change and emotional growth and resolve emotional problems for the child or young person. Family and parents/carers are essential in supporting this change and development in the individual child.

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Children and young people struggling with their mental health in their day-to-day lives can often feel as if their behaviours and actions are out of their control, and they (and often their friends and families, too) are often unable to understand and make sense of themselves. 

 

Through carefully applied thought and practice, a highly trained and skilled psychotherapist will provide a therapeutic space to be able to build a relationship with a child or young person, and through age-appropriate means and extensive observation, come to understand their communications and difficulties to help them make sense of themselves and their struggles. 

 

Children often convey their anxieties and worries through play, and the skilled practitioner will be able to decipher the meaning behind the child’s play to understand the child's communication. Over time, the child will likely become less anxious as they feel understood by others, themselves, and their families. 

 

Adolescents and young people will likely prefer to communicate verbally (if possible), as well as non-verbally. Through the therapeutic relationship and a developing self-reflective capacity, the young person can understand their own difficulties better, become 'unstuck', and move forward to a brighter future. 

 

As a child or young person goes through this therapeutic process and is supported to make sense of themselves and their behaviours, they may notice that they feel better equipped to manage the difficulties of their daily life, feel more able to concentrate and focus and feel better within themselves. 

 

The ACP website is a helpful and informative resource and can help parents and families understand this process further. 

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