Working with Young People
Supporting Young People
I have over 30 years experience of supporting young people. Moving through adolescence to adulthood can be a really challenging and confusing period for young people and the pressures today are so much greater. The media doesn't help with its labels - the 'snowflake' generation - and its judgments. When are managing a response to trauma, it is especially important to treat young people with humanity - as individuals, not as a collective.
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My experience with young people has shown me that I am just one human being, providing space for another human being to be themselves - no hierarchy, no judgment, no preconceptions - whether it be a space online or outdoors - and it is on this basis that my therapeutic approach is built.
Working outdoors works
Over the years, I have found that young people often find it easier to talk side by side, rather than face to face. It takes away a sense of power-difference that can exist in a therapy room.
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Mentoring young people in the care system, I found that heading out for a walk is a way of reducing feelings of threat. Giving the freedom to choose where we walk can help create a safe space - by the water, in the woodland or up a hill with long-range views.
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Spending time on Outdoor Pursuits activities with young people - whether it be hiking, ghyll-scrambling, kayaking or climbing - provided an opportunity to open up in a way that might not happen in the contained environment of School.
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I work with young people taking therapy outdoors because I know it works, and there is good evidence to support it. Find out more...
Working online works
Young people often find it easier to talk online than face to face. It is a world with which they are comfortable. It is also a way of accessing support from a specialist without having to travel. Over the last few years I have been a part of a number of Peer-Support Groups online and have experienced first hand how it is possible to build up secure supportive, trusting relationships. I have also mentored young people and veterans online and at times when it wasn't possible to meet face to face, meeting online gave them an opportunity to gain the support they needed.
Who do I work with?
I work with young people across the country online, and those outdoors with those able to meet up close to my base in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales. Whilst I don't work with young children, I don't set a strict age limit. I find it better to meet online first to decide whether we are a good fit and whether the young person is in the right place to access the support I can offer.
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I take referrals from Schools and from parents, but will only start working with the young person when we have had the chance to meet first.