What is children’s therapy like?

Children and young people are helped to make a safe and trustworthy relationship with one of our CYPS (Children and Young People Service) specialists. Our therapists will help a child access and share their feelings using a variety of creative mediums. Some children may prefer to act out stories with puppets or dressing up. Others may prefer crafting images or figures out of modelling clay. Children are free within their sessions to explore and play, as this is how they make sense of the world.

One way of communicating is through sandbox work, a trained counsellor observes the child playing in a sand tray using a variety of tactile materials, natural items and items and toys and their observations of how the child uses the playthings can provide an insight into their state of mind and emotional wellbeing. The interaction between the child and counsellor provides a model of a safe caring relationship and allows the child to explore their fears and other feelings.

The therapist is there to help a child access and understand their own feelings. This helps a child process what is happening to them/their family.

All our centres have fully equipped children’s counselling rooms.

Support groups

Our Re-Fresh Peer Support Group meets at Lancaster (weekly) and Kendal and Barrow (fortnightly) and provides a full programme of activities and weekly support groups for secondary school aged children to meet, make friends and have fun with others young people affected by cancer or bereavement, either themselves or in their family or network of friends.

How does therapy/counselling help?

Our specialist children's counsellors help children and teenagers make sense of their feelings and the potentially upsetting events that may be going on in their lives. Children and teenagers can speak in confidence to their counsellor and they are also able to explore their emotions through creativity and play/drama which enables them to communicate at their own level and at their own pace.

Re-Fresh - The support of friends and peers can have an incredibly positive effect on the mental and physical well-being of a young person. The groups are overseen by experienced youth workers who lead a variety of fun activities including arts and crafts, cooking and games. The meetings take the young people “out of themselves” and acts as a non-judgemental space enabling them to make new friends and support others in similar situations.

Young people experiencing illness or bereavement often say the friends they make at Re-Fresh provide a fresh understand or different perspective on their experiences at home.

For more information, you can read more here.

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