Sessions are weekly at the same time on the same day.
PARKING – VERY IMPORTANT INFO – The Old Dairy complex landlord company only allows those renting the offices to drive into the area and to park outside their office. Please therefore do not drive into the complex (including the access road) for any reason but park in Godstone near the pond and walk your child to and from our rooms. Driving into the complex and waiting/parking can inconvenience/annoy the houses, garages and other small businesses and may see our tenancy revoked.
If you or your child has a condition/disability which prohibits you walking this distance please advise Carol Belsey and she will ask the landlord for one off permission.
Cars and small vans belonging to office holders come and go 24/7 so please don’t allow your child to play in the yard as it may not be safe to do so.
Please stay close by with your mobile on in case your child needs you whilst they attend their session.
Counselling sessions are 50 minutes. Please don’t knock on the door when you return to collect your child as this may interrupt the flow of the end of the session. The counsellor will open the door when the session has come to an end.
If you need to discuss anything with the counsellor, please send a text or email. Please don’t open conversations at the beginning of your child’s sessions because your child loses precious minutes of their session and may be keen to get started and not at the end because your child may be tired/emotional and just want to go home.
Children and young people may need extra care and attention after a therapy session. Please be mindful of post session care when children are having a particularly tough time.
It’s best not to plan anything to immediately follow your child’s session like a club or outing as counselling can feel intensive and recovery/processing time is required.
Please don’t question your child about their session, wait for them to tell you anything they want you to know. This helps counselling to feel secure.
Counselling is confidential for all, including children, however young they are. However, your child’s counsellor will break this confidentiality if your child is at risk.
Ending therapy can be a painful process if not planned for in an understanding manner and it is therefore strongly recommended that the ending phase takes at least a 4-week period and is agreed with the counsellor. Ending suddenly can have detrimental effects and negate the therapy that has been completed thus far and even put your child off ever entering counselling again as a child or adult.
Please stay in touch regarding holidays and any breaks in counselling and give at least six weeks’ notice so that breaks can be carefully navigated between the counsellor and child.
Finally, please pay promptly upon request. Counsellors are self-employed and payments should not be allowed to drift.
Counselling, whilst an expense to the family purse, is a cost-effective early intervention as it can mitigate further problems in the long-term and be incredibly supportive for your child. However, sessions are weekly so please bear in mind the cost. It is destructive for your child to stop sessions without warning due to finances, so the financial commitment requires careful consideration before beginning a private counselling arrangement.
We understand it can, at times, feel difficult paying for sessions and placing your trust in the counsellor and not knowing what is happening in the sessions, beyond what your child shares and this may become frustrating or see you feel you wish to end the counselling, sometimes suddenly. Please bear in mind these feelings are normal but the confidentiality is an important cornerstone of counselling.
Whilst offered and considered, counselling is more than strategies and solutions, it is a space for exploration of and challenge of one’s thoughts, feelings and difficulties, which does often, in time, lead to strategies and solutions.
Counselling should not be seen as a cure all for all, including behavioural difficulties and a counselling therapeutic relationship shouldn’t be judged on this basis. We cannot say that counselling will definitely help a child’s behaviour as behaviour is a communication of feelings, however it is space to explore feelings and the resulting behaviours. We hope it will therefore see a reduction in a child’s distress and therefore behavioural difficulties.
Please remember that whilst counselling helps many children live a more contented life within which they can enjoy life’s pleasures and withstand life’s trials, counselling isn’t a magic cure but all our counsellors work hard to support their clients.