Parent and family work within child psychotherapy
A child’s difficulty never exists in isolation, but involving parents does not mean assuming that family life caused it. Parents know the child, carry the daily response and are often coordinating school, healthcare and home while trying to judge when to protect, encourage, insist or step back.
Three distinct forms of work
Parent Consultation
A one-off 40-minute online appointment for parents who want guidance about a concern and the most appropriate next step. Your child does not attend. It can stand alone and does not create an expectation of assessment or psychotherapy.
Parent appointments within the ongoing psychotherapy programme
One 60-minute parent appointment is included in each active treatment month. These appointments help us think about the child’s development, changes at home or school, how distress is communicated, how adults are responding and what may support the psychotherapy. Additional parent counselling appointments beyond the included arrangement are charged at £360 per hour, pro rata, with the scope and fee agreed in advance.
Three of the annual parent appointments become formal Parent Reviews before the Christmas, Easter and summer breaks. They provide structured opportunities to consider progress, wellbeing, attendance, engagement, safety, the treatment plan and whether an ending should begin to be planned. Each review replaces that month’s ordinary parent appointment and is included without an additional charge.
Parent-child work
In some circumstances, a child may initially be better able to use therapy with a parent present, or a particular pattern in the parent-child relationship may need to be understood together. Joint sessions are only offered where there is a clear clinical purpose following assessment. They are not a general substitute for individual psychotherapy and do not constitute systemic family therapy.
What parent appointments may address
Depending on the child’s needs, we may think about:
anxiety, reassurance and avoidance;
school mornings, attendance and communication with school;
masking, sensory overwhelm, shutdowns or meltdowns;
routines, limits, conflict and repair;
pain, fatigue, illness and the burden of advocacy;
peer experiences, bullying and social withdrawal;
perfectionism, achievement and fear of failure;
family change, separation, grief or shifting roles;
how to preserve the child’s confidentiality while keeping treatment safe and useful;
what parents need to continue after psychotherapy ends.
Confidentiality and the child’s private space
Parents need enough information to support treatment and respond to safety concerns. Children and teenagers also need a space that is not a running report to adults. I explain how confidentiality works at the outset, including its limits where there is concern about significant harm.
Parent appointments focus on the child’s treatment and the family context. They do not ordinarily provide a detailed account of everything the young person has said or done in sessions.
What this is not
Parent and family work within my practice is not:
couples therapy;
mediation between separated parents;
systemic family therapy;
parenting assessment;
a contact, custody or residence assessment;
court-directed work or expert evidence;
crisis or risk-management provision.
Where one of those services is required, I will recommend that another appropriately qualified service leads.
i-THRIVE alignment
Parent work can function differently according to current need. A standalone consultation closely reflects Getting Advice and Signposting. Parent appointments within focused treatment support Getting Help. More sustained work across family, school and professional systems may accompany Getting More Help. The grouping follows the child and family’s need and choice rather than the presence of a particular diagnosis.
Written and clinically reviewed by Sagal Hassan, ACP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. Last reviewed 31 August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
The three forms are a standalone Parent Consultation, parent appointments within the ongoing psychotherapy programme, and clinically indicated parent-child work.
No. Parents need enough information to support treatment and safety, but children and teenagers also need a private therapeutic space.
No. The service does not provide couples therapy, mediation or systemic family therapy.
Parent Consultation
A 40-minute online appointment for parents, offering specialist guidance without an obligation to continue.