Caroline Piers

I work as an integrative counsellor with children, adolescents, young adults and parents in North London. Having worked for over 25 years in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in a number of different specialities and geographical locations, I am passionate about the role that a counsellor can have in helping young people recover from difficulties they may be having, maximising their potential in life and giving them a positive experience of seeking help from another.

An integrative approach allows the counsellor to draw on a number of different therapeutic modalities when working with a young person, rather than being limited to one way of working. At the heart of my work is the absolute importance of the young person and counsellor developing a relationship where the client feels listened to, trusted and understood. In my experience, it is when this relationship is attended to and developed that meaningful changes can occur in the work, and in the young person’s life. My training and clinical experience includes play and using the arts in therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, trauma-informed attachment-based approaches, family based systemic work, psychodynamic thinking and a number of other modalities.

I have had significant experience of working with children and teenagers of all ages in the NHS and independent sector, and in addition I offer my services to the older teenage/young adult bracket. My services also include parental therapeutic sessions, which can be of enormous value in the often significant challenges of supporting children through different stages of their lives.

Individual counselling: I provide counselling sessions in a warm and welcoming therapy practice in Highbury, Islington. I welcome referrals for children and adolescents of all ages, usually via their parents/carers. I also have lengthy experience of working with older adolescents/young adults. Contact with families begins with the offer of an initial phonecall with a young person’s parents/carers, which can last up to 30 minutes. The purpose of this phonecall is to exchange information about reasons for seeking counselling, background information, and for parents to ask any initial questions about me and my therapeutic approach. By the end of the phonecall, we will have decided together whether an assessment session with the young person would be helpful.

Therapeutic parental support sessions: these can be offered in addition to sessions for the young person, or in some cases instead of seeing the young person individually. Again, this can be discussed and decided on at various stages of the therapeutic process, dpending on individual need.

Older adolescents/young adults: for some young people who are 16 years and older, there may be less involvement from parents/carers in this process, depending on the wishes and needs of the young person.

Consultation: I have lengthy experience in consulting to staff groups working with children and young people in primary and secondary schools, where there may be mental health related challenges to a young person reaching their full potential at school. I have also worked in schools in a variety of different therapeutic roles.

An assessment session is the first face to face contact between myself and the family, and lasts for approximately 90 minutes. Following this, it is usually helpful to commit to between 4-6 sessions of extended assessment, and I then hold a review meeting with both young person and parents as appropriate. We use this session to check that we are working together in a way that feels helpful and supportive to the young person and family. Counselling sessions then continue for as long as is felt to be necessary, and this varies greatly between different young people.