At Mustard Therapy and Coaching, we regularly receive communication from concerned parents about counselling and psychotherapy for young people. The sense of helplessness as a parent resonates, especially as both of our therapists are parents too (and also grandparents to 3 younger children!). When a young person is suffering from anxiety or depression , self harming or struggling with the demands of school and friendships we are here to help. Referrals from parents often come with a history of trying to access psychotherapy or counselling and either not being successful due to long nhs waiting lists or their son or daughter having seen a counsellor or psychotherapist and not felt that the therapy on offer was helping and the conclusion was that that was not the right person for them.
Traditional counselling and psychotherapy for young people can leave them feeling dismissed or patronised
At Mustard Therapy and Coaching our therapists have worked hard over our 31 years experience as therapists to develop a way of working flexible enough to build the trust of young people so that they feel heard and understood. Traditional counselling and psychotherapy for young people can often leave them feeling dismissed , patronised and generally being handed a set of formulaic exercises that not only requires a level of effort and commitment that they do not have the capacity nor energy to work with, but it is reminiscent of “more homework”. They often then switch off from the therapy, adding the counsellor or psychotherapist to a long line of adults that are not able to help them address what is going on.
A flexible counselling and psychotherapy approach utilising hypnotherapy is more effective
Giving a young person tools to use when they feel overwhelmed with their emotions , in conflict with parents or when a friendship ends can empower them to make real change. However this needs to be an approach designed around having got to know them as an individual, taking their worries seriously. What may seem trivial to an adult may be huge for them. Their expectation that you will feel they are “being silly” or “making a big deal out of nothing” may come form their experiences with other adults having given this message. These messages may have been from parents, extended family, teachers or even older siblings. This dismissive message sadly adds to feeling inadequate, not good enough and feelings of shame. The vicious cycle of overwhelming emotions that result often leads to developing coping strategies that are destructive and more likely to lead to further shame anxiety , feeling depressed and social withdrawal. When our therapists work with young people, we build a toolbox which utilises their fantastic imagination with hypnotherapy techniques that may be about visualising handing back responsibility for what others have said or done, for stopping ruminating anxiety of feeling responsible and accountable for what may have happened, regulating emotional reactions to parents and teachers.
https://mustardtherapy.co.uk/how-we-can-help/
If you are talking with a young person, please validate their emotions, anxieties and low moods. Is it is important to them, it needs to be important to you.
If you wish to have a confidential conversation about how an integration of counselling , psychotherapy & hypnotherapy may be able to help then one of our therapists at Mustard Therapy & Coaching would be happy to speak with you. Our advice…don’t wait to crisis point, seek out therapy options early.
https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/seeking-therapy/therapy-for-children-and-young-people
