What is Child Psychotherapy?
 
Child psychotherapy is a specialist form of psychological therapy designed to support children and adolescents who are experiencing emotional, behavioural, or mental health difficulties. Through a safe, consistent, and boundaried therapeutic relationship, child psychotherapy provides young people with a dedicated space to explore their inner world, make sense of their experiences, and develop the emotional resources they need to thrive.

Who Can Child Psychotherapy Help?
 
Child psychotherapy can be particularly valuable for children and adolescents navigating a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety and worry, depression and low mood, trauma and adverse childhood experiences, low self-esteem and self-worth, difficulties with relationships and social connection, identity challenges, and the complex emotional landscape of adolescence. If you are concerned about your child's emotional wellbeing or behaviour, psychotherapy offers a supportive, evidence-informed pathway toward understanding and change.

Therapeutic Approaches We Use

The field of child and adolescent psychotherapy encompasses a number of well-established therapeutic modalities. At Saga Psychology we draw on whichever approach best fits the individual child or young person. Among the most widely used are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which supports young people in recognising and reshaping unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour; psychodynamic psychotherapy, which explores how early experiences and unconscious processes shape present difficulties; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which builds psychological flexibility and values-led living; and integrative approaches, which draw thoughtfully across multiple frameworks to meet each young person's unique needs. The choice of modality is always guided by the child or adolescent's presenting needs, developmental stage, and personal circumstances.

Our Humanistic Approach at Saga Psychology

At Saga Psychology, psychotherapy with children and adolescents is grounded in a fundamentally humanistic view of the person. This means approaching every young person with genuine curiosity, deep respect, and an unwavering belief in their capacity for growth and change. Rather than positioning the therapist as an expert who diagnoses and fixes, the humanistic perspective understands the therapeutic relationship itself as the engine of healing — a relationship characterised by warmth, honesty, and unconditional acceptance.

Central to this approach is the person-centred philosophy of Carl Rogers, who proposed that every human being carries within them an innate drive toward growth, fulfilment, and becoming more fully themselves — a process he called self-actualisation. Rogers believed that when the right conditions are present — empathy, unconditional positive regard, and authenticity — people naturally move toward health and wholeness. At Saga Psychology, this means trusting in the child or adolescent's own inner wisdom, following their lead, and creating the relational conditions in which self-actualisation can unfold. It is an approach that affirms the dignity and potential of every young person, regardless of what they have been through.

What to Expect at Saga Psychology

The specific modality and intervention approach used with each child or adolescent will always be discussed and agreed upon collaboratively during the initial intake assessment. This ensures that the therapy is tailored to the individual from the very beginning — responsive to their unique needs, preferences, and goals, and transparent about the process every step of the way. We believe that families and young people deserve to be fully informed and actively involved in decisions about their care.