My name is Dempsey and I am a counsellor who specialises in working with Children and Young People, giving them a space where they can feel comfortable about opening up, being honest about what they find hard and finding their true identity without judgement of other people and opinions that make them feel “strange”, “weird” or “unlovable”. 

I am interested in listening to you and understanding how it feels to be you, from your perspective and I want to help you to process the challenges that you have faced 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. 

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, judging yourself against your friends, judging yourself and others through what you see on social media, it can be really overwhelming and it can be difficult sometimes to know how to make it better. 

Then there is the part where you feel like your parents, care givers and teachers just don’t understand you, no matter how you phrase it, and it can become overwhelming.

The teenage years are so important and emotions are high which can cause you to feel different, like your going through this alone because everyone else seems to be “ok”. The way you feel about yourself can have a big impact on the way you behave and the way you experience the world. 

It can lead to you doubting yourself and your abilities, increased anxiety that makes it difficult for you to go to school, social anxiety that results in you overthinking every conversation with your friends before, during and also after the conversation, which can be really exhausting.

This can result in you feeling like you’re losing a sense of your own identity, feeling stressed, loneliness and isolation from other people who you desperately want to be around, but you just don’t know how to be yourself, frustration, anger and wondering where you belong. 

The short answer is NO!

It would be nice if you gave me and counselling a chance before deciding but – and this is important! – if you really don’t want to do counselling, I am not going to make you, I won’t take it personally! Counselling works when the client wants 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 stage 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 to work on overcoming obstacles that are preventing you from moving forward, making friendships, getting your revision done and achieving your goals, or if you want to find some useful tools to help you to manage things better going forward, or maybe you just want to talk and make sense of how you’re feeling. I will encourage and support you.

We will work on empowering you and look at ways to build your confidence so that you can do more of what you enjoy, and I will be there to support you on your journey. 

In my therapy sessions we will talk about what’s brought you to counselling and what you want things to be like instead. We can look at your hopes for the future and then we will look at how to get you there. We will work on supporting you to be the best version of yourself to help you to feel happier. 

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 discuss 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.