Under 12
Years old
Why this age matters
Early childhood can bring overwhelming emotions, challenges, and experiences that children may struggle to make sense of. At this age, children may not yet have the words to describe how they feel. That’s why I create a safe, playful space where they can explore emotions through creativity, movement, and connection.
Building trust within the whole family is key. I work with both your child and you, the parent/carer, so everyone benefits.
What to expect
- Together time – Sessions might involve your child alone, you, both parents/carers, or your child and you as a dyad. (Dyad means a session with parent and child together to support connection and communication).
- Art & play therapy – I use seven different art mediums, which can help children express feelings they might not be able to explain verbally. More on art and play therapy >
- Evolving support – As children grow, sessions shift gently toward more one-on-one work with your child, balanced with regular parent check-ins (roughly every 4–6 sessions).
Common focus areas
Therapy for younger children often supports them with:
- Understanding and managing big feelings and behaviours, like anger, worry, or sadness
- Coping with changes at home, such as separation, loss, or new routines
- Building self-esteem and confidence
- Improving emotional regulation and impulse control
- Strengthening relationships with parents, carers, or siblings
- Supporting social skills and friendships
Structure & duration
How: Face to face
We usually work in four-week blocks, which offer time to build trust and create positive momentum. After each block, we’ll reflect together on your child’s progress and adjust the support based on their evolving needs which is especially important when navigating trauma, loss, or major transitions.
Typical next steps
- Book in a free 15-minute initial call – to check if I am the right therapist for you.
- If you want to proceed, book in a consultation to talk about what your child is experiencing and how I might be able to help.
- First four-week block – We’ll begin our journey together, using creative tools to build trust, connection and understanding.
- Review & adapt – We’ll reflect on what’s working and plan next steps together, keeping your child’s needs at the centre.
- Ending – When we both feel that our journey is coming to an end, we will arrange a final block of sessions to ensure a smooth transition.
Related
Through my experience it is really important to have a strong relationship working with both you, the parent/carer, and your child, together, at this age. So your child feels the most benefit but also so you, as the parent/carer are able to get guidance and support too, with supporting the needs of your child.
Therefore, there may be some sessions separately with each parent/carer, both parents/carers or the sole session for your child. There will also be sessions where your child and you may need to be present, together, so that I can work dyadically to best help work with your family as a whole.
I tend to work quite heavily with the arts (7 different mediums) for this age group as it allows your child to express themselves in a less threatening capacity but also as they may not have the cognitive ability to formulate the words or emotions needed, yet. This is especially apparent up to the age of 8 so the arts are a beautiful way to enter their inner world for better understanding of what needs may be present and showing up in the room.
From 8-12 the focus will be less on working dyadically (with heavy input from you, the family) but there will still need to be regular contact which looks more like the ratio of 5 child sessions to 1 Parent/Carer session.
Please note: Due to the nature of this work, I feel it really helps to have stability and preparation for everyone as a unit. So we work in 6 week blocks, assessing at the end of each block what is needed to continue the growth of the child and therapeutic journey, hopefully ending in alignment and harmony for the whole family. This is especially true if there are any bereavements or trauma present which means there needs to be a lot of consistency and containment from both me as a therapist but also from you, the parent/carer.
