CBT for teenagers in Leeds and online
Adolescence can be a difficult period of change. Young people may experience anxiety, intrusive thoughts, low mood, trauma symptoms, difficulties with friendships or increasing pressure connected with school, relationships and their future.
Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, can help teenagers understand what is happening, identify patterns that may be keeping difficulties going and develop practical ways of coping.
I offer CBT for teenagers face to face in Leeds and online across the UK.
When might CBT help?
CBT may be helpful when a young person is experiencing:
Anxiety or persistent worry
Social anxiety
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Intrusive thoughts
Specific phobias
Panic attacks
Disordered eating
Trauma symptoms or post-traumatic stress disorder
Low mood or reduced confidence
Avoidance of school, social situations or everyday activities
Trichotilomania
Body image issues
Difficulties following frightening, distressing or adverse experiences
Young people do not always describe their difficulties using diagnostic terms. Parents may instead notice changes such as increasing avoidance, repeated reassurance seeking, withdrawal, irritability, disrupted sleep, physical symptoms of anxiety or difficulty managing situations that were previously manageable.
An initial assessment allows us to consider what may be contributing to the problem, whether CBT is likely to help and whether I am the most appropriate therapist for the young person.
What is CBT?
CBT is a structured and collaborative psychological therapy. It focuses on the connections between thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and behaviour.
It does not involve simply telling a young person to think positively or giving them advice. Instead, we work together to understand the difficulty and identify patterns that may be unintentionally keeping it going.
Depending on the young person’s needs, therapy may involve:
Learning how anxiety and other emotions affect the body
Understanding patterns of thoughts and behaviour
Gradually approaching situations that have become frightening or avoided
Learning to respond differently to intrusive thoughts
Reducing checking, reassurance seeking or other compulsive behaviours
Processing difficult or traumatic experiences
Developing confidence in social or educational situations
Improving emotional awareness and communication
Practising new coping strategies between sessions
Any exercises or tasks between appointments are agreed together and adapted to the young person’s age, confidence and circumstances.
If you are a teenager reading this
Starting therapy can feel awkward, especially when it was suggested by somebody else.
You will not be expected to explain everything immediately or talk about anything before you feel ready. Therapy is not a lecture and you will not be told how you should feel.
We will work together to understand what is difficult for you and what you would like to change. You can tell me if something does not make sense, does not feel useful or feels too difficult.
Most of what you discuss in therapy remains private. I will not routinely tell your parent or carer everything you have said.
There are limits to confidentiality. If I become concerned that you or somebody else may be at significant risk of harm, I may need to share relevant information to help keep people safe. I will explain this clearly at the beginning of therapy.
Working with parents and carers
Parents and carers can play an important role in supporting therapy, particularly when a young person is struggling with anxiety, avoidance, compulsive behaviour or difficulties at school.
Depending on the young person’s age and needs, parental involvement may include:
Providing information during the assessment
Helping us understand what has been happening
Supporting agreed strategies at home
Reducing patterns of reassurance or accommodation
Helping the young person practise new skills
Attending occasional joint or parent-only appointments
The level of parental involvement will be discussed with the young person and their parent or carer.
It is important for teenagers to have an appropriate level of privacy in therapy. Parents will usually receive general information about goals, progress and how they can help, rather than a detailed account of each session. However, if the young person wants to record sessions or share info with their grown ups, that is fine too.
Looking at the wider picture
Young people do not experience emotional difficulties in isolation.
Where relevant, therapy may consider the impact of:
Family relationships
School or college
Friendships
Bullying or exclusion
Academic pressure
Identity and self-esteem
Social media and the online world
Sleep, routines and daily habits
Previous stressful or traumatic experiences
With the young person’s agreement, and where it is clinically appropriate, I may also communicate with school, another professional or another person involved in their care.
What happens at the first appointment?
The first appointment is an assessment. It provides an opportunity to understand:
What the young person is experiencing
When the difficulty began
What may have contributed to it
What may be keeping it going
How it is affecting home, school, friendships and daily life
What the young person and their family would like to change
Depending on the young person’s age and preferences, part of the appointment may take place with a parent or carer present and part may take place with the young person individually.
Following the assessment, I will discuss:
My understanding of the difficulty
Whether CBT is likely to be suitable
Possible therapy goals
The recommended level of parental involvement
The likely frequency and length of appointments
Whether any additional support or specialist assessment may be needed
Not every difficulty is best treated within private outpatient therapy. If another service or type of support appears more appropriate, I will explain this and, where possible, suggest suitable next steps.
About me
I have worked as a CBT psychotherapist since 2012 and I am accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.
Much of my recent clinical experience has involved working with adults, including women and birthing people during the perinatal period. I also have experience of working with trauma, PTSD, OCD, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, phobias and complex emotional difficulties.
My interest in supporting children and young people began before I qualified as a therapist. During my psychology training and before, I volunteered and completed placements in community and residential settings in Poland, including work with children from disadvantaged communities, Roma children and young people living in residential care.
I also taught English to children in Poland and at a summer camp in China. During a supervised clinical placement, I supported behavioural interventions for a child with ADHD under the supervision of a clinical psychologist.
I have since completed further professional training in adapting CBT for children and adolescents. You can learn more about my qualifications in ‘about me’ section of this website.
I find working with teenagers particularly meaningful. Learning to understand and respond differently to emotional difficulties during adolescence can provide skills that remain useful into adulthood.
Appointments in Leeds and online
I offer face-to-face appointments at Reflection Clinic in Leeds and online appointments across the UK.
Some evening appointments are available, which may be more convenient for young people attending school or college.
Online therapy may be suitable for some teenagers, although this will depend on their age, needs, level of risk and ability to attend sessions from a private and appropriate space.
Is private CBT the right support?
Private CBT may not be suitable when a young person requires urgent support, intensive intervention or input from a wider multidisciplinary team.
Reflection Clinic is not an emergency or crisis service.
If there is an immediate risk to the young person or somebody else, please contact emergency services, NHS 111, the young person’s GP or the local NHS crisis service.
Suitability for therapy is considered individually following an initial discussion and assessment.
Contact Reflection Clinic
If you are a parent, carer or young person considering CBT, you are welcome to contact me to discuss whether I may be the right therapist.
When making an enquiry, it is helpful to include:
The young person’s age
A brief description of the main difficulty
Whether you are looking for face-to-face or online therapy
Any relevant involvement from school, a GP or another professional
Your general availability
Contact Reflection Clinic to arrange an initial consultation.
