Counselling for teenagers and young people in Norfolk and Norwich area by a qualified counsellor and Psychotherapeutic counsellor registered on accredited BACP Register of Proficiency and Senior accreditation with the National Counselling Society. I work take private referrals as well as working for local schoolls and UK charities. I am registered with the DBS for your ease of mind and fully insured. .
To take a journey back to our youth can often take us back to a very different perception of the world that we see today.. The teenage years are the years when are lives can easily appear to be turned upside down. Our values and beliefs that were installed by our parents and valued for so long are under increasing challenge from the outside world and our own experience and reasoning. This challenge can bring about uncomfortable feelings of anxiety, disappointment and anger and can often result in rebellion or power struggles with those who care for us. Luckily most of us come out the other side as happier adults.
Why are the teenage and formative adult years such a turmoil? Well its only in recent years that it has been recognised that the brain undergoes a massive reorganisation from the period just prior to puberty through until the later teenage years. This has been linked at first to a over production of cells in the frontal cortex – the thinking and feeling part of the brain – later in puberty their is a massive pruning of information that has been ‘learnt’ throughout childhood. The information that is believed to be pruned is broad and ranges from preferred activities to beliefs about life and relationships with family friends and peers. In essence they find themselves and renew their beliefs for the first time!
A subtle emotional move also takes place in this period when the adolescent looks often for the first time beyond their immediate family for emotional support and guidance. In formative years a child focused on all their emotional needs to receive love, support and shelter from a Primary caregiver or givers, (usually a parent) now a slow often tentative move is made to look for a future further away from parental influence. Fantasies and attempts at love, sex, rebellion, pop idols etc can all fulfil some of these needs at various times in this lengthy period which can range from puberty to the early twenties, these first attempts at relationships beyond the known environment of our family can be tough as old beliefs of how people are and how to get on in life that have been learnt are often challenged. Much as parents usually have a desire to help their teenager through this difficult period and important though it is to show your love and concern these can often be difficult things for a growing person to talk about with a parent, often you are just too close.
I work in a diverse range of ways with young people – we are all unique and as such I try to work in a way that suits the client I’m working with, as well as working in the conventionally perceived way of therapy – two people talking in a room. I embrace anything that helps understanding and perception so I may if I feel the client wants work indoors or out in the open air, and too help them understand their feelings or if I feel it will open them up more to exploring the situation, we may work with photographs, Art Materials, stones and crystals or music and imagery. As a qualified counsellor I have many years experience working with adolescents, teenagers and young adults. I work in a non judgemental way applying many psychological and neurological theories in my work with them, helping them through this difficult period and increasing their understanding of themselves and the world as they see it in the process.
