Psychotherapy Assessment
Three appointments to understand the difficulty—and let your child experience the setting
A Psychotherapy Assessment is not a test that your child has to pass. It is a three-session clinical assessment and trial period. It allows me to build an initial understanding of what may be happening while the child or young person discovers how it feels to be in the room with me.
Three 50-minute appointments at the same time and day each week for three weeks. Parent(s) take part in the first appointment; any parent-only time is included within its 50 minutes.
Includes a 20-minute parent feedback call after assessment, an initial formulation and recommendations; a report summary is available on request.
Assessment is booked and paid for as one block. A weekly programme place is available when you book an assessment. It helps us decide together whether psychotherapy is right for your child; you are not obliged to continue.
£900
Three 50-minute appointments; the first includes parent(s) and child
Includes a brief parent feedback call after assessment, an initial formulation and recommendations; a report summary is available on request.
Guaranteed spot in the Psychotherapy Treatment Programme
Why three appointments?
I find we need at least 3 meetings to consider readiness, fit and what the child may need. This gives us time to notice difficulties that may not become clear in a first appointment. Some neurodivergent young people may also need time to become familiar with a new environment, especially where masking is concerned.
The appointments give me a chance to observe how your child approaches separation from parents, uncertainty of being with a new person, how aware they are of their difficulties, and how easy or hard it is for them to build a rapport. They also give the young person a fairer opportunity to decide whether the setting is tolerable and potentially useful, as my approach is always child-centred and I require their consent, where they are able to give it, to treatment. Consent can only be given when one knows what they are going into.
Three 50-minute appointments. Parent(s) take part in the first appointment; any parent-only time is included within its 50 minutes.
A 20-minute parent feedback call after the assessment, with an initial formulation and recommendations; a report summary is available on request.
Cancel at least seven days before the first appointment for a full refund. Appointment changes need at least 48 hours’ notice. Proportionate late-cancellation and unused-appointment refunds are explained in Practice Policies.
We agree the regular appointment time before the assessment is booked, when an ongoing weekly programme place is available.
Confidentiality and its limits are explained in an assessment agreement before the work begins.
The report summary, available on request, sets out my recommendations and, where psychotherapy is advised, an initial treatment plan.
A low-demand approach
Your child is not required to know what is wrong, give a complete verbal account, make eye contact, sit face-to-face or use the session in a conventional way. Depending on age and preference, we may use conversation, play, drawing, sensory materials, games, movement, an absorbing shared activity or periods of quiet. I am also keen to be aware of a child’s level of comfort in relation to direct eye contact for example, and we can even adjust the furniture in the room to make sure that they do not have to worry about being perceived. For some neurodivergent young people, a brief pre-therapy room visit and an optional sensory-preferences questionnaire can make the first appointment more predictable. These are adaptations to the setting, not hurdles to clear before the “real” work begins.
What do we get?
Not every assessment leads to psychotherapy, and that is part of the value of doing it carefully. Other recommendations may include parent work, school adjustments, educational psychology, further diagnostic assessment, paediatric or psychiatric review, or liaison with other professionals.
Fees
£900
Frequently asked questions
Parents book the assessment block, as these are not 3 separate appointments, but are considered as a full block. This is because it is not possible to explore your child's difficulties, parenting concerns and whether or not we are a good fit in one appointment. But I continue to attend to the young person’s willingness and ability to use it. Reluctance can be explored; coercion is not treated as engagement. If the assessment cannot proceed meaningfully, I will discuss this with parents.
Where clinically useful, brief measures may support the assessment and later review. They are one source of information where helpful, rather than something we have to do or rely on. A child’s play, behaviour, relationships, physical state, family context and own priorities remain central. I am not going to give you a bunch of questionnaires for the sake of it, as sometimes these can be more about serving a service’s vanity metrics rather than having actual positive clinical impact.
Relevant background is usually discussed during the Parent Consultation and through agreed pre-assessment information. I explain how parental information, confidentiality and safeguarding are handled so that the child’s private space is not built on hidden assumptions.
I provide psychotherapeutic, developmental and biopsychosocial assessment which includes a report summary. Reports may contribute to an EHCP process or a diagnostic assessment carried out by the relevant professionals. This service does not provide stand-alone autism, ADHD, psychiatric or educational-psychology diagnosis. Court and medico-legal work are outside the service I offer. A report summary is available on request. An extended report, for example to contribute to an EHCP process or a diagnostic assessment by the relevant professionals, is separately chargeable according to the time involved. Longer parent feedback can also be arranged on request for a separate charge. The scope and charge are agreed before that work begins. After the three 50-minute child appointments, I offer parents an included 20-minute feedback call to bring together what has been learned. The feedback includes: an initial psychotherapeutic formulation; the factors that may be contributing to or maintaining the difficulty; the child’s experience of the assessment and apparent fit with the approach; recommendations about what support should lead next; whether weekly psychotherapy appears indicated; any relevant recommendations for parent responses, school, medical care or another service.
No. I do not offer diagnostic assessments. I do not believe a child needs a diagnosis before seeking support. In fact, some parents who approach me do not want a diagnosis for their child because they worry that this will affect their sense of identity, or that it may disadvantage them in some way. I appreciate that parents should be able to decide whether or not a diagnostic assessment is appropriate for their child, in which case, I would not push a parent or family towards an autism or ADHD assessment for example. Where my service sits is either post-diagnostic support, or where parents suspect their child might have autism or ADHD, but do not think a diagnosis proper would be helpful. The way I work in any case is through careful biopsychosocial formulation, which is an intersectional approach to understanding a child's difficulties. Autism and ADHD are only a part of the picture, and what is most important is getting them the right support, rather than the label this support carries. I can offer an initial clinical understanding and recommendations, but the assessment is not a psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, medical or educational-psychology assessment. Where indicated I work closely with other healthcare professionals like psychiatrists and paediatricians, to whom I can refer your child if you would like a diagnosis. I provide psychotherapeutic, developmental and biopsychosocial assessment. Reports may contribute to an EHCP process or a diagnostic assessment carried out by the relevant professionals. This service does not provide stand-alone autism, ADHD, psychiatric or educational-psychology diagnosis. Court and medico-legal work are outside the service I offer. If another assessment is needed, I can discuss appropriate referral or signposting.
A weekly programme place is available when you book the assessment. After feedback, we can begin the programme when psychotherapy is recommended, your child has had a meaningful opportunity to agree, and the treatment agreement and payment arrangements are complete. The first regular parent meeting takes place as we move from assessment into the programme. It is separate from the included assessment feedback call.
A Psychotherapy Assessment usually involves three appointments, with time for parents, time for the child or young person, and careful thinking about what has been happening across home, school, development, relationships and health. The first appointment includes parent(s) and child, where you are both invited to share the history of the difficulty, what has already been tried, what feels most concerning now, and what kind of support they are hoping for. The child or young person is also given space to be understood in a way that is appropriate to their age, communication style and emotional needs. The first session might be split into two parts, depending on the age of your child, or whether there are private concerns you would like to discuss as a parent. Any parent-only time is part of the first 50-minute appointment, not an additional appointment or charge. I may ask you to leave part way through the session so your child can have an experience of what it is like to be alone with me in the session. Usually the second and third sessions will be individual sessions with your child. This is so that they can get an experience of what it is like to be in therapy with me. After the three sessions, parents have an included 20-minute feedback call to discuss next steps and how the assessment has gone. Where clinically appropriate, the assessment may also include liaison with school, GPs, paediatricians, CAMHS, private clinicians or other professionals involved in the child’s care. A report summary is available on request, including the initial formulation and recommendations about next steps. Extended reports or feedback are separately chargeable according to the time involved and agreed in advance.
No. A Psychotherapy Assessment does not automatically lead to psychotherapy. The purpose of the assessment is to understand what kind of support would genuinely meet your child’s needs. For some children, psychotherapy may be recommended. For others, the most helpful next step may be parent work, school adjustments, liaison with school or healthcare professionals, further diagnostic assessment, psychiatric input, psychological assessment, medical review or another form of support. The outcome is discussed in the included 20-minute parent feedback call. A report summary with the initial formulation and recommendations is available on request.
Parent Consultation is a focused one-off appointment for parents who want help thinking through a specific concern, incident or decision. Your child does not attend, and it does not involve a full clinical assessment of the child. A Psychotherapy Assessment is a fuller three-appointment process involving the child and parents, considering emotional life, development, family relationships, school experience, neurodivergence, physical health and current difficulties. Parent Consultation can help you decide whether a Psychotherapy Assessment is needed.
This is common and does not automatically mean psychotherapy is unsuitable. I do not expect immediate openness or motivation. The three sessions give us time to see whether some curiosity or engagement can begin to emerge, without forcing a longer-term decision after one meeting. Silence is not a failed appointment. I pay attention to how your child uses the room, relationships and materials, and whether a way of communicating can begin to develop.
Yes, where this is clinically useful and with your consent. This may include your child’s school or alternative education provider, GP, paediatrician, CAMHS team, educational psychologist or another clinician. The report summary is available on request. An extended report may contribute to an EHCP process or a diagnostic assessment by the relevant professionals and is separately charged according to the time involved, agreed in advance. It does not provide stand-alone diagnosis, and court or medico-legal work is outside this service.
I will explain what I think would be more helpful and why. This may include parent work, school adjustments, a different form of therapy, further diagnostic assessment, medical or psychiatric review, or support from another service. The purpose is to reach a useful recommendation, rather than move every family into psychotherapy. You receive the formulation and recommendations, and there is no requirement to continue with me.
Regular parent meetings are an essential part of my ongoing psychotherapy programme and are included in the programme fee. They give us time to understand your child’s needs, think about how adults respond and support changes in everyday life. In my clinical approach, psychotherapy is unlikely to be helpful if we cannot also work regularly with the parents or carers who support the child day to day. These meetings protect your child’s private therapeutic space: we discuss themes, progress and practical responses, rather than repeat what they say in sessions, subject to safeguarding responsibilities.
Complexity does not rule a child out. My clinical training and experience across NHS CAMHS and paediatric services have prepared me to work with significant, longstanding and intersecting difficulties. I also do not expect a young person to arrive eager, articulate or ready to change. Reluctance may be part of why help is needed. Across the three sessions, I am looking for some capacity—however tentative—for curiosity, reflection or engagement that the work could develop. “I am not looking for a child who already knows how to change. I am looking for a small spark that psychotherapy can build on.” The assessment is mutual. Your child has time to form an impression of me, you can judge whether my way of working makes sense, and I can decide whether I can offer something useful. Not every assessment leads to treatment, and that is part of the value of doing it carefully. I do not set fixed goals before I know the child. If we continue, the initial focus of therapy grows from the assessment and is reviewed over time. I do not promise a particular result within a fixed number of weeks. I keep a deliberately small caseload so that the children I take on receive the continuity, reliability and clinical responsiveness that longer-term psychotherapy requires.
The three appointments let your child experience how I work, so they may feel like the beginning of psychotherapy. Their main purpose is assessment, formulation and planning: to consider whether the setting is useful, whether psychotherapy is suitable and whether another kind of support would be more appropriate. The assessment is mutual. Your child has time to form an impression of me, and we consider whether the work could be useful. A weekly programme place is available when the assessment is booked. The ongoing psychotherapy programme begins after feedback and a separate agreement to continue, when it is clinically appropriate.
Sometimes another clinician or service will be better placed to help. The presence of risk does not automatically rule out psychotherapy with me. Assessment helps us consider the young person’s needs, whether my approach is suitable, and what other support may be needed. Where difficulties overlap across health, school and family life—for example, with school attendance difficulties or chronic illness—I often prefer to work alongside the other professionals involved. The arrangements depend on the young person’s circumstances. If another service is needed, I will discuss this with you and refer or signpost as appropriate. My practice does not provide emergency or crisis care. Psychotherapy may be part of a wider care plan, with medical, specialist or urgent support provided by the relevant services.
Evidence and professional context
THRIVE Framework for system change: shared decision-making and needs-led care.
Written and clinically reviewed by Sagal Hassan, ACP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. Last reviewed 31 August 2026.
Related services
Parent Consultation
A 40-minute online appointment for parents, offering specialist guidance without an obligation to continue.