07773 420563
info@annawhitton.com
Dr Anna Whitton
Child & Adolescent Clinical Psychologist
Therapy for Young People & Families in Central London and Queens Park, North West London
What to Expect
Psychological Assessment
The first step is normally to carry out a thorough assessment which will usually involve your child and you as their parent or carer. Assessments sometimes include other family members.
An assessment will take between one and three sessions and may involve liaising with the school or other professionals depending on the nature of the problem. This would be agreed beforehand and consent will always be obtained prior to any contact being made.
Following assessment, an individual treatment plan is developed in collaboration with your child based on a shared understanding of the difficulties.
Therapeutic Support Plan
A number of sessions will be offered (each lasting 50 minutes) drawing on evidence based models and techniques. There will be regular reviews to ensure that that the treatment plan is meeting the needs of your child and and family.
The Therapy Plan could involve one or a mixture of:
- Direct individual work with your child. This will involve drawing from different psychological models and techniques including CBT, compassion focused therapy, systemic therapy and EMDR. (More details about these approaches>>)
- Parent support sessions. This would involve working with you as parent(s) to offer advice and management strategies for behavioural difficulties.
- Parent-child work. This would involve working with your child along with you as parent(s) and/or other family members, for example, to aid better communication and help family relationships.
When might my services not be appropriate?
Where the young person’s difficulties require a psychiatric assessment or a multi-professional approach, or where there is a high level of risk, a referral to a different service might be more appropriate. I would be happy to discuss this with you to help assess suitability for any such referral.
