Children and young people can experience a wide range of difficulties, our therapists offer a friendly and non-judgemental space to help them understand their thoughts and emotions. Managing distressing thoughts and emotions can be difficult for children, which is why we often observe children engaging in challenging behaviours at home or school.
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) helps improve a child’s mood, anxiety and behaviour by examining confused or unhelpful ways of thinking. CBT therapists teach children to question their negative thoughts instead of just accepting them and it can improve their ability to deal with difficult emotions.
Research has shown that providing early intervention to children who are experiencing difficulties is paramount to promoting healthy mental well-being in adulthood. We empower our younger clients to become more self-aware of their thoughts and emotions and teach them effective strategies for self-management. Throughout childhood children face many challenges and stressful situation such as:
- relationship difficulties
- sudden changes
- discrimination
- feelings of isolation/loneliness
- bereavement
- divorce/separation
- hectic schedules
- peer pressure
- academic pressure
- bullying
- social anxiety and difficulty interacting with peers
- low confidence/self-esteem
- school refusal
We aim to develop your child’s resilience, so they can bounce back and thrive in the face of such difficulties. We are born with the capacity for resilience, but resilience is not something we have or don’t have, we work on it throughout our lives and we need to start as early as possible.
Newry therapy Centre helps your child build resilience by promoting inner strengths:
- self-control
- thinking skills
- confidence
- positive outlook
- responsibility
- participation.
If you are a parent concerned about your child or young person it be beneficial to seek additional support; we have therapists who have specialist training in CBT for children which have proven to be highly effective.
What to expect?
We work with your child in the most age and developmentally appropriate manner. This means that with younger children therapy involves lots of play which is the language of children. We are certified in creative play techniques such as sand, stories, sculpting and puppet work. We incorporate into play cognitive behavioural strategies to teach children to question their negative thoughts instead of just accepting them, and strategies to improve their ability to deal with difficult emotions and affect positive changes in behaviour.
It is our practice to meet with parents/carers first before meeting with the child about whom you have concerns. This is called a Parent Information & Support Session allowing us to discuss your current concerns and difficulties your child is experiencing. During this session we will advise you of the most appropriate therapeutic approach and estimated duration of therapy programme. We understand that bringing your child to therapy can be a new and often worrisome experience for parents and therefore we welcome you to ask any questions you might have regarding your child’s therapy at this stage. Our ethos is to have parents/carers involved in their young child’s therapy therefore we will meet you for regular parental review meetings throughout your child’s treatment. Together we will determine whether you and/or your child could benefit from a psychotherapeutic intervention to begin to understand the factors impacting on your relationship and/or causing the concerning behaviours.
We are all individuals therefore the duration of therapy can vary from person to person. Therapy may involve 4 sessions or may take several months; it simply depends on the individual and the circumstances. The duration of your child’s therapy is ultimately your decision and your therapist will work around your circumstances where possible. Generally, children respond well to therapy and research shows that children under 7 years show positive changes in 12-14 sessions. Early intervention is key!
You can find us in the ITEC Business Park, Armagh Road, Newry, BT35 6DT. Located in Newry we are perfectly situated to service the Newry and Mourne. We are located a couple minutes off the M1 making us perfectly located for those travelling to us from the South (Dundalk, Drogheda) and those coming off the M1 from the North. We have free parking available.
