My name is Dempsey and I am a counsellor who specialises in working with Children and Young People. I hope to provide a comfortable space to talk about what you might be finding hard right now, exploring your thoughts and feelings to help you feel better or make sense of everything without being judged.  

I am interested in finding out about you, not just what makes you feel sad, angry or worried but also finding out about the things that you enjoy doing, the things you are good at and when you feel the happiest.

Counselling doesn’t have to be all “how does that make you feel?” it can also be fun, we can play board games, card games, do some colouring, sit on the floor and talk and just get to know the real you not just the version of you that you show to everyone else. 

I am interested in hearing about how it feels to be you, from your point of view, not the opinions of others. I want to help you to feel happier about just being yourself and enjoying your life in a safe and supportive way. 

There’s no short answer to this, however I like to describe it as a safe place where you can talk about anything that you might be finding difficult at the moment. I won’t judge you, or tell you you’re being “silly”, I won’t laugh at you. I will listen to you and help you to work out a way forward so you can feel better.

We will work TOGETHER. That might be finding a solution to a specific problem such as bullying or feeling anxious, or finding ways to manage difficult feelings such as anger, grief, sadness, anxiety. Or simply giving you the space to explore your feelings and experiences and just talk about them openly without feeling like you have to be careful what you say so you don’t upset somebody.

Every person is individual and I will work with the issues and feelings that matter to YOU.

It is up to you what you want to talk about, I won’t force you to talk about difficult things that you might not be ready to talk about, but when you are ready, I will be there to listen and support you through.

Being a teenager can be really hard, managing the stress of coursework, exams and revision, experiencing bullying, trying to fit in, wanting to be accepted, comparing yourself to friends and people we see on socials, it can be really overwhelming and you might find it hard to know how to make yourself feel better.  

Then there is the part of you that you keep hidden away from parents, friends, teachers and everyone else because you just don’t feel like they will understand, no matter how you say it.

You might be looking around at your friends and peers and wondering why they all seem to be doing “ok” and you’re struggling to get up in the morning, get out of bed and make it through the day. 

You might start to doubt yourself and your abilities like “Am I good enough at sports?” or “do people even like me?”

You might feel so anxious or worried that you don’t want to go to school because the thought of spending the day overthinking every conversation, wondering if people are laughing with you or at you, and waiting for something awful to happen, just sucks the energy out of you and you feel exhausted. 

You might feel like you don’t know who you are anymore, you don’t know if you fit in with your friends and everything is changing and feels “off” and it just gets so lonely.

Whatever it is, I know it feels like things won’t ever get better because you don’t even know why you are feeling like this, however if any of this makes sense to you, please get in touch or ask your parent to get in touch and we will work it out together. 

The short answer is NO!

It would be great if you gave me and counselling a chance before deciding if it will help you but – and this is important! – if you really don’t want to do counselling, I am not going to make you, and I won’t take it personally! Counselling works when you want to be there. If you don’t, it wouldn’t be right to continue. I can help you explain that to your parent/carer if you want me to. 

If you do decide against counselling now, that does not mean you can’t change your mind and come back later on. 

If you do come for counselling but decide it’s not for you at any point or you just want to finish, that’s fine too. It’s often helpful to have an “ending” final session but as always, I will be guided by YOUR preference and what you need. 

Whether you just want somebody to talk to who won’t judge you, or you have goals that you want to work on like making friends, feeling more confident, getting your revision done or managing anxiety I can help with those.

Or maybe you want to find some useful tools to help you to manage your anger or emotions better. Either way, I will encourage and support you.

We will work together, I am not just another adult who will give you my opinion or tell you what I think you should do, we will work together to find ideas and solutions to whatever challenges your facing so you can feel happier, feel more in control of yourself and your emotions and be the best version of yourself. 

Your privacy is REALLY important to me. We will talk about this in our first session so that you understand when I might need to talk to somebody else about something that we have discussed in our sessions. An example of this would be if I was worried about you, I would talk to you about it first but I might need to tell somebody else so that they can also help and support you. However, I will talk to you more about this to make sure you’re comfortable with what information is shared.

You can ask me about this at any time, especially if you are not sure whether you want to tell me something because you’re worried I might need to tell someone.

 I will also make sure your parent(s)/guardian understand that anything you say to me in our sessions will stay between us unless:

• I feel that you or someone else is at risk of significant harm.
• You have knowledge of, or involvement in, a serious crime such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism or money laundering.
• YOU ask me to speak to someone such as a parent/guardian/doctor on your behalf. We would agree together what I can say and who I can say it to.

All Counsellors have monthly clinical supervision where I might talk about our work together but you will not be identifiable in those discussions.

Apart from those circumstances above, I will not talk about you or what you have said to your family, your school, your work, your friends, my family, my friends or ANYONE else.  

Every client is different. Some get what they need in a short course of 6 – 12 sessions but others may want to continue counselling for months or even years. Most clients get a feeling when they are ready to finish their counselling and this is something we can talk about and plan for. 

I will never “keep” you in counselling longer than you need or want to be, so if you feel like you have spoken about all the things that are troubling you and you want to end counselling, we can make that happen.