Jane Teal

I am an Integrative Child and Young Persons Counsellor and Therapist having qualified in 2015 after working as a primary school teacher and mentor to young people. 

I have worked as a volunteer with children in a women's refuge as well as with the NSPCC delivering workshops on self care.

I have worked as a volunteer counsellor with the charity Place 2Be providing therapy within a school setting for children and young people up to the age of 18.

I believe child counselling/therapy to be a form of social-emotional help and support for struggling children and young people and their parents and carers. 

 It is essential to build a relationship of trust before difficult feelings/experience can be broached so I will work at the pace of the client in order to build this trust.

As an Integrative therapist, I am trained to work with the arts in order to help children access feelings and emotions which may be hard to talk about with the right words. However this is always done in an age appropriate way and with the agreement of the client.

Talking therapy forms the mainstay of my work, honouring the client's difficulties by careful listening and then looking at with them, what might be causing them distress.  Together we gain an understanding of these issues and work towards creating strategies to help build resilience in facing these challenges.

Through therapy, children and young people are able to develop their ability to self reflect, to understand themselves better and to view their difficulties with compassion so as to be able to function better in the complex , modern world.

My practice is situated in a comfortable room in Teddington and is fully equiped with a variety of  resources.  There is no wheelchair access.

I am fully insured and have regular supervision sessions to support my work.

 Sessions are 50 minutes long. Children/young people are usually seen on a face to face basis but online sessions can be arranged via Zoom as long as there is a confidential space at home for them to use.

 Parents can attend sessions with the consent of the client.  Feedback with parents can be given where it is deemed helpful to the well- being of the client and where the client  is in agreement.

After initial contact has been made by the parent/carer (either by telephone or email) a first meeting is arranged where both client and parent/carer attend and where presenting issues are briefly discussed from both the child/young person's viewpoint and the parent/carer's.

The first session with the client alone will focus on helping them to feel at ease and beginning to build a therapeutic relationship with them.

If client and parent/carer wish to proceed with therapy, we agree to start with 4 sessions. The sessions are reviewed with the client and if he/she wishes to continue then sessions will continue on an open ended basis.