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Welcome to The Harbour

A professional psychotherapy service for children, young people and families. We offer a confidential, highly specialist assessment and treatment service for a wide range of emotional, behavioural and developmental difficulties.

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We recognise that all children, young people and families are different. Our clinicians provide a safe, confidential and thoughtful setting in which each child, young person and family can reflect on their unique circumstances and find opportunities for development and growth.

WHAT WE DO

CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPY

Child psychotherapy aims to promote individual development and to help children reach their full potential and build resilience and self-esteem. We help children find new, more adaptive ways of expressing and regulating their emotions, enabling them to build and sustain more positive and secure relationships with adults and peers.

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As child and adolescent psychotherapists, we are trained to work with children, parents and families, who may consult us with a range of conditions and concerns, such as:

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  • Sadness and constant worry

  • Anxiety and a variety of specific fears and/or phobias

  • Aggressive and violent behaviour, including forceful tantrums and overwhelming anger

  • Insecurity, intense shyness and lack of confidence

  • Separation difficulties, including when settling into new environments

  • Difficulties attending school

  • Problems in attachment relationships with family members

  • Difficulties related to eating, which may take various forms (not eating enough / overeating / extreme fussy eating, etc.)

  • Sleeping difficulties

  • Oppositional behaviour

  • Difficulties forming and maintaining friendships

  • Learning difficulties

  • Underachievement at school

  • Self-harm

  • Suicidal thoughts and/or suicide attempts

  • Neurodevelopmental difficulties

  • Specific difficulties related to looked-after and adopted children and young people, many of whom have suffered extended neglect and abuse

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For more information, click on 'Services' on the menu above.

DIFFICULTIES WE CAN HELP WITH

Home - Difficulties

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN CONTACTING US

The first step is to contact us with an enquiry.  One of our clinicians will then ring you back for a brief no-obligation discussion of what it is that you would like help with. During this discussion you can think together about whether it would be helpful to arrange an initial consultation.

 

An initial face-to-face consultation with one of our child psychotherapists is an opportunity to come to think together about the current difficulties and how they may have arisen. Sometimes this initial consultation may be all that is needed, while in other cases therapy might be indicated.

 

If so, the next step would be an assessment. We believe that before beginning any therapeutic treatment it is important to offer a thorough assessment of the difficulties faced by a child, young person or family.  If it is agreed that an assessment for psychotherapy would be helpful, this usually entails three individual assessment sessions, and a review session where we discuss the assessment and make a plan.

 

During the assessment sessions, we aim to reach a shared understanding with the family of the difficulties experienced and, subsequently, to agree on the best way forward. This might be starting psychotherapy or, if another treatment would be better suited, to signpost you to it.

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For more information, click on 'Services' on the menu above.

Home - What to expect
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