Adolescents

During adolescence, young people’s bodies and brains go through enormous change. The onset of puberty brings about major physical, hormonal, emotional and neurological changes and the brain itself undergoes a reconfiguration. Often parents and adolescents report that their relationships with each other go through a period of change and sometimes adolescents may feel overwhelmed or unsettled by these changes and their emotions. They will find that talking to a qualified adult, who is not involved in their daily life, can benefit their mental health and will help them to understand their emotions. Adolescents are under so much pressure, from academic and social success to negotiating risky situations and first sexual encounters that sometimes they do need some extra support.

Working with adolescents, and sometimes with their families, I am able to help them make sense of these changes they are experiencing and so provide alternative ways of thinking, feeling or behaving. In particular, I focus on areas such as bullying, peer group problems, parental conflict, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, the effects of divorce and parental alienation, academic pressure, exam anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, risk-taking and sexual and gender issues.