Topic · Anxiety in children and young people
Anxiety is one of the most common things parents bring to us in the counselling room. The shape it takes shifts with age. The toddler who will not be put down. The Year 4 child whose stomach hurts on Sunday evenings. The Year 6 child whose sleep has gone two weeks before mock papers. The Year 10 child who has stopped speaking up in class. This page is a short overview of how Kensington Square Therapy works with anxiety, and what is in The Parent Book for parents to read alongside the clinical work.
Parents arrive having read about anxiety online and finding none of it quite fits. The patterns below are the ones we see most often in independent school children and young people. None of them, on their own, is a diagnosis. All of them, in our experience, are workable.
Stomach aches before school. Headaches that arrive at registration and lift by mid-morning. Tiredness no amount of sleep is fixing. The body is speaking before the child has words for what is happening.
The high-achieving child who has begun to feel that being praised is something to manage rather than enjoy. Often pinned to assessment seasons, mock weeks, the run-up to the 11+ or GCSE choices. Worth holding properly before it becomes the child’s relationship with effort itself.
The thoughts that arrive the moment the bedroom light goes off. Worries about tomorrow, about friendships, about a teacher’s look. Not insomnia in the medical sense, but a child who has lost trust in the moment between awake and asleep.
The child who has gone quieter in class, who has stopped putting a hand up, who is asking to be picked up early from parties. Often missed for months because she is still going to school, still being friendly, still appearing to be fine.
The Year 5 or Year 6 child whose drop-offs have become difficult again. Usually a sign that something else is happening underneath, not a regression in itself.
The clinical work and the editorial sit alongside each other, by design. For families who need both, both are available. For families who only need one, we will tell you so honestly during the initial conversation.
One-to-one sessions for the child, parent consultations alongside if helpful, and pastoral consultation with the school where appropriate. We do not begin from diagnosis. We begin from careful understanding. Where specialist assessment is the right step, we will say so.
How we work →Seven chapters in The Parent Book on anxiety, alongside 14 quick tips, 24 activities, 50 books, 10 podcasts, three films, and five further-reading recommendations. Through your school as a partner, or by individual subscription at £99 a year.
Open the anxiety library on The Parent Book →There is no threshold a child has to cross before therapy is appropriate. There are, however, a few signals that suggest a short clinical conversation is likely to be useful.
If you are not sure whether the pattern warrants therapy, the simplest thing is to write a short email. Every enquiry is read by Sam personally, and we respond within one working day.
If you or your child are in immediate danger, please call 999 or take them to your nearest A&E. If you need to talk to someone right now: Samaritans 116 123 (24/7), NHS 111, or Shout (text SHOUT to 85258). For under-25s in distress, Papyrus HOPELINE247 on 0800 068 4141.
If you are weighing therapy and not sure where to start, a short call costs nothing. If you would rather begin with reading, a subscription to The Parent Book is £99 a year and you can cancel anytime.
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