It's all about you
Over the years I’ve found working with young people a little bit different from working with adults…Mainly because young people prefer a more informal atmosphere compared to adults and as a result our therapy sessions might feel perhaps a little less structured and a little more chatty at times.
Also as a young person, you generally have different stuff you might want to talk about, some of this stuff might be to do with sudden mood swings, or feeling angry or confused or worried about relationships with friends. Maybe you’re feeling anxious about things that are happening around you that you can’t control.
Change is all around us
We can all feel overwhelmed at times and adolescence is a particularly difficult period in our lives, as we are constantly trying to adjust to the changes we are feeling around us with our families, friends and school lives, coupled with huge changes going on for us inside our own body's. All in all this can feel a bit scary, making us act out of character as we feel stressed.
To add to the pressures, our image and how we present ourselves feels important to us and at times we may not know exactly how or which friends we want to fit in with. Relationships with family can feel like a series of arguments at times, often while we may just want to try and get on and do things our way, we have parents, teachers and adults telling us not to. It can feel really confusing and so we might prefer to spend most of our time with our friends or on our own and away from adults all together.
Growing up can be hard
I think its fair to say we all worry about being judged and doing well regardless of our age. Learning to cope with the pressure of school/college/exams and work is all about growing up and taking responsibility for ourselves, but this can feel too much at times if you're attempting to manage everything on your own, especially if you're trying to develop your independence and learn to be more grown up.
So, when times get hard we may choose to share some of our problems with a friend or adult we can trust, however at other times we may prefer not to, because we might not want to bother anyone, or it feels scary to say things out loud in case we're judged.
A problem shared is a problem halved
My online chat room is just one of the many easy to access counselling and psychotherapy platforms available for you to use which means that you can talk to me safely and more conveniently about the things that are worrying you without having to sit opposite me in a room if you’d prefer.
Hopefully this will make things feel less scary for you and you can also remain anonymous if you prefer to, as you don’t need to show me your face, we can use chat or text if you prefer for your therapy sessions.
So whether your problems feel big or small or out of control, I’m here to help you sort them out in a way that suits you..…
As a counsellor and psychotherapist working with young people, I understand that learning to share your problems with what might seem to be a complete stranger, takes courage. So in the hope that by you getting to know a bit about me, I'm hoping it might help you to relax and open up a little, so we can chat about your stuff without you worrying about what I might be thinking. Trust me I’m very friendly, accepting and not easily shocked. Oh and just so you know, I’m trained not to judge people.
So here’s a bit about me…
Hello! I'm Lindsay. I'm a friendly person, an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist and also trained nurse. I love working with young people in my private practice.
Some of my previous roles include working in a busy school as a counsellor and online with young people for a national organisation called Kooth.
I have 2 teenage children. I love listening to music, reading, exercise, travelling, having fun, strong black coffee and ice cold diet coke! I think I’m quite funny, but my daughters think my jokes are terrible! Apparently I can’t sing! I thought I could!
I love dark chocolate and my favourite meal is nearly always the spicy option on the menu.
I don't have tattoo's but I don't mind them...I don't have lots of piercings, but I don't mind if you do.
I like sunny weather best and get miserable if it rains for days on end.
I'm passionate about young people having their say and getting help early before problems feel to big.
My story as a teenager...
When I was about your age, my dad got seriously ill and it felt like my life had been turned upside down. As a family, it was really difficult to deal with as we each tried to cope with the prospect of him not being around.
As my mum was really busy looking after my dad, I didn’t want to add to her worries by telling her how I was feeling. As my sisters were younger than me, I felt I needed to try and help by looking after them as unfortunately my brothers were older and had left home by then. However this left me feeling very overwhelmed.
I tried to gain some control back and manage my emotions through food. Unfortunately I developed an eating disorder. As the months went on it became really hard to deal with my mixed up feelings. Back then there wasn’t anybody to turn to to get advice from. Counsellors weren’t available like they are now and there was a huge amount of stigma around mental health issues. I didn’t know who or where to go to get help and felt very confused. Unfortunately my eating disorder just got worse and worse. I felt more and more alone with my problems.
And now....
Thankfully I managed to find help over the years and even though I don’t suffer with anorexia or bulimia anymore, I know what it feels like to feel sad about life and not know where to turn….so good things have come out of my experiences, I know that because I’m a happy person now but I wasn’t back then.
So if you’re like me, perhaps you’ll agree that the best time of the week is Friday evening & Saturday is definitely still the best day...
I’m really looking forward to meeting you through my site and hearing you chat about your stuff and the things that are bothering you as well as the things you enjoy doing...
Just have a chat with your parent or carer first and let them know that you need a bit of help with whatever it is that’s going on for you and we can take it from there…otherwise you can self refer and we can chat about how and where you might go to get the help you need.
