CYP Counselling
Avenue provides counselling for children and young people from the age of 10 to 17 years, who are struggling with their emotions or wellbeing.
Counselling can support children and young people to work through their challenges and find positive ways to move forward. Our Counsellors work with the child or young person to tackle whatever is important to them. This might typically include anger, feelings of loneliness, bullying, problems at home or school, or low self-esteem.
Children and young people often find it really helpful to talk to somebody who is outside their family. Avenue’s Counsellors will not discuss with the child’s parents or carers what is talked about in the sessions. However, they might support the child or young person to have those conversations themselves, if that’s what they would like.
Please note that, except where we have safety concerns, the child/ young person’s session is confidential for them. The content of sessions is not shared, and can form no part of any legal or mediation proceedings.
Avenue’s Counsellors work within the BACP and COSCA ethical frameworks. This means that our Young Person’s Counsellors have a recognised qualification in Counselling at Diploma level or higher and also have specialised training to work with children and young people. All of our Young Person’s Counsellors have enhanced disclosure/PVG checks, adhere to Avenue’s safeguarding and child protection policy, and participate in regular clinical supervision.
Sessions
Sessions are 50 minutes long and can be delivered by zoom or face-to-face. This may depend on where you live.
How many sessions you will need will depend on your particular circumstances, but we typically start with the expectation that you will have 6 sessions. We can review this as the therapy progresses. We work with the child or young person for as long as this is helpful.
Cost
Children and Young Person’s Counselling is free if you live in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or Moray.
We ask that you consider making a donation to our work. Avenue is a charity and we work hard to make sure that anyone who needs our support can access our services. Any donation you can make will help us to ensure that we can get help to the people who need it most.
Please be aware that we can only offer Children and Young Person’s Counselling to children who live in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or Moray.
We are able to offer free Children and Young Person’s Counselling thanks to the support of a range of funders, including: Aberdeen City Common Good Fund, Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership, Aberdeenshire Council, BBC Children in Need, John Gordon’s Charitable Fund and the Scottish Government.
If you would like more information, or would like to refer yourself or someone you know to Children and Young Person’s Counselling, please call our Service Administration team on 01224 587571, or contact them via email.
Our online referral forms can be completed here
Self Referral
Professional Referral
