Kids Dot Calm Services
At Kids Dot Calm we respect that you know your child best. Our initial consultation is with the parent/s or carer/s to enable us to understand your child’s needs and difficulties, learn about their life at home and school and to establish what you hope to achieve through therapy. Partnership between the therapist and parents/carers is essential in child-focused therapy to achieve a positive treatment outcome. On commencement of therapy, you will be given a leaflet, ‘What parents need to know about CBT’ which will explain the model, processes and goals of CBT, and discuss the ways in which you can best support your child.
Parents remain involved throughout the process, with opportunities for feedback and to discuss progress whilst respecting the child’s confidentiality (please refer to our privacy policy). This also helps to facilitate the transfer and use of tools and skills given to your child to their home environment for maximum benefit.
Parent sessions can be booked separately for advice and coaching for parenting issues such as supporting your child with emotional issues e.g. stress and anxiety or anger, improving parent-child relationships and dealing with an additional needs diagnosis.
Children (aged 6-9 years)
We believe that children are adaptable, and given the tools, skills and opportunities to explore and understand their experiences, they will often be able to overcome their difficulties and challenges.
At Kids Dot Calm a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), emotion coaching, art and talking therapies allow children to identify and express their emotions, feelings and concerns without fear of being judged. By providing coping strategies and essential problem solving and life skills children are empowered to understand and manage their emotions and deal more effectively with complex life situations and challenges.
Some common areas in which young children may need help and support to overcome difficulties include:
• Family conflict and relationships
• Sibling issues
• Health psychology
• Anger management
• Fears and anxiety
• Performance/Test anxiety
• Sadness
• Low self-esteem
• Attachment issues (e.g. clingy behaviours, separation anxiety)
• Peer relationships, friendships and conflict resolution
• Transitions (e.g. new school or home, divorce, death)
These are just some examples, there are many more areas in which we can offer help.
Through the use of talking therapy, dolls, puppets, art and craft activities and games, the therapist acts as a guide to enable children to share and make sense of their experiences in ways best suited to their age and developmental level.
Pre-Teens (aged 10-12 years)
During this time children are stuck in a strange middle ground where they’re not little any more but they’re not yet teenagers. These pre-teen years are often the most challenging times in your child’s life. They may feel frustrated and confused about all the changes they are experiencing, physically and mentally. Parents can also have trouble dealing with and understanding new behaviours and attitudes, and sometimes families can need guidance in navigating this daunting new territory.
Therapy can help pre-teens to understand their feelings and overcome difficulties associated with
• Difficult hormonal and emotional changes
• Pressure to fit in and conform leading to anxiety or self-esteem issues
• Performance anxiety due to SATS, 11+ tests or the increasingly challenging demands of the school curriculum
• Dealing with the transition to secondary school
• Discomfort or awkwardness caused by their changing bodies with possible body image issues
• Friendship or peer group troubles
• Power struggles with parents, teachers or other authority figures as they try to spread their wings, restricted by certain boundaries
Kids Dot Calm can help pre-teens to negotiate these turbulent years and give them the skills and strategies they need to empower them to learn about who they want to be and the choices they make. A uniquely formulated treatment programme will combine art, therapeutic games and activities along with child-focused CBT methods and talking therapy in a way best suited to each child’s needs and developmental level. Many pre-teens particularly enjoy art as a creative means of communicating worries and feelings which they find difficult to voice.
We realise that at this time, parents are usually still the most influential people in their pre-teen’s life. This means that working in partnership is essential to enable us to jointly support each child, and encourage their motivation and cooperation for a timely and positive result from treatment.
This is a critical time in a child’s development and intervening now can make a huge difference. It only gets harder if support is delayed. Kids Dot Calm can equip your child with life skills and coping strategies that will make a positive difference to their life and that they can carry with them into their future.
Parent coaching sessions are also available separately should you need support dealing with family conflict, arguments, supporting your child with stress or anxiety or dealing with a diagnosis.
Teens (aged 13-18 years)
Adolescence is a critical time when young people begin to form an identity which will define them for a lifetime. It is often a time during which adolescents will experience a complex whirlwind of powerful and confusing feelings and emotions as they progress through a period of huge physical change in the brain. In combination with high hormone activity and emotional stress caused by factors such as friendships and relationships, pressures at school, fears for the future, and pressure to conform or to look and behave in certain ways, it is no wonder that many teenagers and their parents/carers find these years to be extremely challenging.
Some teens have minor difficulties, and just need a little guidance and support to get them back on track, whilst others may have more serious issues that need more significant interventions. If not addressed, these issues can escalate and have a damaging impact on your teen’s, and your family’s, emotional health and well-being. At Kids Dot Calm, we will help your teen to work through, understand and resolve their difficulties, and help them back on their way to becoming highly functioning and emotionally healthy adults.
Common areas that can be addressed include:
• Anxiety
• Emotional Regulation
• Confidence and self-esteem
• Friendship issues
• Defiance
• Social skills
• Coping skills
• Self-identity and body image
• Low mood
• Self-harm
• Family/sibling/ relationship issues
Treatment for teens will aim to address current issues, and also to stop problems from arising in the future through the use of preventative therapy.
We will initially meet with parents/carers to enable us to better understand the difficulties your teen is facing. We will discuss what is happening in their life at home and school and determine the best way forward. We will create a personalised treatment programme to meet their individual needs and help them to overcome their challenges. Teen sessions are generally individual, weekly or fortnightly sessions with check-ins arranged separately with parents to discuss your child’s progress.
We also offer individual and group parent coaching sessions which can assist in areas such as improving parent-child relationships, communication skills, dealing with anger or defiance, supporting your child with anxiety, low mood/negativity, or issues of self-harm.