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1-2-1 support
How do I know if my child needs 1-2-1 sessions?
Sessions can be either ‘proactive’ (building resilience and emotional intelligence) or ‘reactive’ (support through a challenging time or situation).
‘Proactive’ Sessions:
Do you want to be proactive in supporting your young person’s emotional development?
Investing in a short course (around six sessions) of proactive emotional literacy education for your child has a huge impact on their ability to recognise, manage and cope with emotional highs and lows. This is our passion at Bridge the Gap: giving young people the skills and knowledge they need to help AVOID them hitting crisis point!
‘Reactive’ Sessions
Are you looking for support for your child or young adult because they are struggling to cope with something on their own?
Our specialist practitioners offer support across a number of areas, for example:
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Low level anxiety
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Support at a challenging time (e.g., transition, separation etc)
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Growth mindset (“I CAN do this!”)
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Low self-esteem
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Building authentic resilience
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Sleep trouble
It is important to note that we are not a crisis response service. We offer proactive support and early interventions, boosting self-esteem and resilience so your child can cope with challenging situations in the future.
However: you are NOT alone – and you matter.
If your child is in crisis, talk to us.
For example, they may be using self-harm as a coping strategy or limiting their usual activities because of phobias. If we can’t support you through the services we currently offer, we will help guide you to an appropriate pathway elsewhere. You are not alone.
If you haven’t accessed it already, please enrol on our FREE course for parents supporting a child in crisis. This includes sections on anxiety and self-harm, along with general information on how you can support your child through challenging situations.
What are One-to-One (1-2-1) Sessions?
What are the benefits of
1-2-1 sessions?
Which support is best for my child?
Who can access 1-2-1 sessions?
How is it funded?
What types of support are available?
Assessment Fee
Additional Services
One-to-One sessions at Bridge the Gap provide a warm, welcoming space for children and young adults to feel safe, seen, soothed and heard.
Most children in our service work with one of our own Specialist Practitioners who will be entirely focused on your young person’s needs, using age-appropriate, engaging activities designed with their personal interests and current situation in mind.
What we offer is different to counselling, the sessions will not feel ‘clinical’ and it will not feel like we are trying to get them to talk, we explore emotions in a variety of ways as well as supporting other aspects of wellbeing such as self-esteem and growth mindset.
We believe strongly in building connections and trust - which is why we don't limit our one-to-ones to six sessions. Sessions can be either ‘proactive’ (building resilience and emotional intelligence) or ‘reactive’ (support through a challenging time or situation).
One-to-one sessions can also be offered in different specialist areas, with different types of support and activities, such as play therapy, music therapy or clinical psychology.
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Personalised support designed specifically for YOUR child and your family.
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Improve your child’s well-being
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Help them to understand, accept and to move through difficult emotions
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Help them to build authentic emotional resilience
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Boost their self-esteem
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Reassure them they are ENOUGH, exactly as they are
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Work through difficult, specific circumstances in a safe space
What types of support are available?
We currently offer six main options for one-to-one sessions. These are subject to availability (we do have waiting lists, although these are managed to be as short as possible) and we hope to add to these services in the future to offer more options for our families.
We will discuss this with you when you have your assessment call. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and our mental health lead will allocate the most appropriate type of practitioner for your child.
Generally speaking, the ‘type’ of practitioner and support your child would benefit from depends on a combination of how they are presenting (behaviours), how their thought processes are affecting their behaviours, and how their emotions are feeding these thoughts and behaviours.
We will recommend the support that will most directly benefit them in their current circumstances.
We will recommend a practitioner that will best connect with them as individuals and is able to meet their unique needs.
Of course, if you already have a preference or know which service you would like to access – please let us know when booking your assessment call.
Our Child Well-being Practitioners have experience offering proactive support across areas like low self-esteem, low-level anxiety and growth mindset. Our Community Mental Health Practitioners have ‘protected professional titles’ and offer experience dealing with more complex needs.
One to One sessions are appropriate for all ages, from around five years to adulthood.
Children, young people and adults can self-refer (contact us here).
Referrals can also be made through your child’s school, or via your GP.
How many sessions will my child or young adult have?
We advocate a ‘drip-drip’, connection-based approach and sessions will usually run for an average of around 12 weeks. If your child needs less or more – that is what they will receive.
A series of proactive sessions to boost your child’s emotional intelligence and build resilience for their future may last around six sessions, depending on their response and your wishes.
We offer a private service which clients can pay for themselves.
Schools can often access funding for children who have been referred – our practitioners tend to work from our premises on Friar Gate whenever possible, this allows us to see more children in a day helping to reduce our waitlist. When we do work in schools we require the school to have signed up to one of our school packages - please ask them to get in touch to find out details.
If we know of any funded or free support available, we will always inform you and share the details. We are always looking for and applying for funding, although it is a costly and time-consuming process, so we always need help raising funds and applying for them.
Please do not suffer in silence – if you're struggling, talk to us about your situation and we will let you know if there is anything we can do to help.
How does it work
You can self-refer into our private 1:1 service, or schools and GPs can do it for you.
We then arrange a telephone assessment (£45) with a member of our team to ensure that we are recommending the right pathway for support.
Depending on the pathway chosen, we will make arrangements for the sessions to begin – either with you, or the school if applicable.
If you choose to work with a therapist, you will need a further assessment conversation with them to ensure the right care is given.
We currently offer five main options for one-to-one sessions. These are subject to availability (we do have waiting lists) and we hope to add to these services in the future to offer more options for our families.
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Emotional Literacy sessions
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Play Therapy
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Music Therapy
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ACT-informed sessions
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Parent Support
What are ‘Emotional Literacy’ sessions?
Our ‘Child Well-being' and ‘Community Mental Health’ Practitioners offer children and young adults a safe space to explore how they feel. We look at how our feelings are linked to emotions – how our thoughts affect our feelings - and the connection these have to how our bodies feel. We also help children with their self-esteem.
This opens up conversations and activities around coping strategies - ways that we might be able to deal with the impact of those difficult emotions.
Our Emotional Literacy-based sessions improve individuals’ emotional intelligence. We begin to understand how ALL emotions are okay (difficult emotions are normal!) and that we have much more control than we think we do over how we respond to the physical and mental effects of those emotions. We explore the idea of ‘Growth Mindset’ (believing in your own ability to make changes and learn new skills), a hugely empowering concept.
These sessions offer a high quality, uniquely personal emotional education, with coaching around goal-setting and problem-solving an inherent part of the process. These sessions are £45 per session.
Read more on the research around EQ below:
https://cpduk.co.uk/news/emotional-intelligence-a-key-21st-century-skill
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership]
What is ‘Play Therapy’?
“While adults may be comfortable talking about their concerns, children sometimes need a different way to express themselves.
Play therapy is a developmentally appropriate way for children to explore what is going on for them, to work through feelings and find new ways of looking at things.
During a session, children can choose to work in a number of different ways:
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in the sand tray
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with clay or other art materials
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through musical instruments
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using puppets
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creating and exploring stories
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building
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talking
The play therapist’s role is to create a safe space for these explorations and work with the child to allow them to explore what they need to. Sometimes, they will offer experiences and reflections intended to support them on their journey. Listening to what children have to say, through the language of play, can offer an experience of being heard and receiving attention which is therapeutic.”
What are ‘ACT-informed’ Sessions?
Specialist Mental Health Nurse Nikki Webster is a qualified ACT Practitioner and offers hugely inspirational and life-affirming ‘ACT informed Practice’ sessions.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy builds on the foundation of emotional literacy and is especially useful for older children, teenagers and adults.
The process helps us to understand how we feel, why we might feel the way we do – and to embrace that part of ourselves as authentic, unique and valid. This is the ‘Acceptance’ element.
We then look at what actions and behaviours we can commit to that positively enrich our lives, while embracing the parts of us that we cannot change or control.
A hugely empowering path to self-love and acceptance.
Nikki Webster is our only ACT practitioner so there is often a wait for this service, it is costed at £60 per session.
What are ‘Parent Support’ Sessions?
Support sessions give you a safe space to explore what is happening with your child so that we can work through things together in a safe, relaxed, non-judgmental, and informal environment. We work through different scenarios together so that you feel empowered with tools and strategies to be able to support them at home.
Sessions are usually held with one of our Directors, Jennifer Wyman, or Nikki Webster.
Jennifer Wyman is our Early Years specialist and is full of amazing ideas to help you manage parenting struggles that show up in the day to day, she is able to empower you with information on your child’s stage of development so that you are able to understand where your child currently is and meet them there.
Nikki Webster is a Specialist Mental Health Nurse so is able to offer you a safe space to explore the daily struggles of supporting a child struggling with their mental health. Having a safe space to do so can help your child too – it is vital that we are putting on our own oxygen masks first. It is also important that your child’s privacy is protected so that they don’t feel ‘labelled’ as they move out of crisis.
Sessions last up to an hour. We can have sessions monthly or fortnightly, some parents choose to have some just 'as and when' they feel that they need it.
We can arrange this face-to-face at our lovely premises on Friar Gate - the kettle will be on!
Parent support sessions are £45 - £60 per session.
*Alternatively online sessions are available for those currently out of area.
We invest in you from the beginning...
Assessment calls are £40 and last between 30-45 minutes.
We’ll arrange a time that suits you and your busy life. We will take the call in a confidential environment and be available to support you emotionally. It can be difficult to share all the information you might want to so that we fully understand your child’s needs. While we can’t understand your unique situation – we do know how it feels to be vulnerable and to ask for help. We are here for you and your child with compassion and absolutely no judgement.
We won’t refer you unless we believe we can make a difference. You might find that the free resources we have available or another option might be better for your child. We might also feel that your child needs a different type of support – perhaps something that we don’t offer here at BTG. If this is the case, we will advise you as best we can.
We’ll take the time to listen – you may feel you’ve had a therapy session yourself!
We’ll talk you through the options we can offer and make sure you understand and are happy with your choice.
We’ll make you aware of any funding options we might have available and make sure you know exactly what you will be investing in your child’s well-being.
Services
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Weekly 1:1 support with a Bridge the Gap Practitioner £45 per session (45 minutes)
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Weekly 1:1 support with a community mental health practitioner £55
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ACT sessions £60
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Telephone assessment £40 (45 minutes)
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Parent support sessions £45 (1 hour)
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Community services prices available on booking page of website.
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Therapy prices will be discussed with the individual therapist on consultation.
Additional services all charged at £45 per hour (£60 for Nikki Webster) please speak with us around the length of time needed to complete.
Examples of services you may ask for us to provide
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Report for school or diagnostic services
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Attendance in meeting with a school or other service
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Additional meetings with the practitioner outside of review sessions
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Mental Health Assessment
Child Wellbeing Practitioners
Child Wellbeing Practitioners (CWP) at Bridge the Gap hold a core qualification, a minimum of level 3, that enables them to work within the children and young person's workforce. TA's, Teachers, youth workers etc.
The job role of a CWP is a unique role that allows professionals to deliver 1:1 support to children struggling managing big and difficult emotions, have low self-esteem, who require a supportive and neutral mentor, or who are identified as being vulnerable. You will have the opportunity to make a positive impact on their lives.
We provide both internal and external training and focus on finding the right people that are suited to working with the children in our service. All child wellbeing practitioners receive regular informal and formal clinical supervision.
online pre-recorded courses to support your families mental health
Community Mental Health
Practitioners
Community Mental Health Practitioners (CMHP) at Bridge the Gap hold a protected professional title and are members of the appropriate governing body - Mental health nurses, occupational therapists or therapeutic social workers.
The job role of CMHP is a unique role that allows professionals to deliver 1:1 support to children struggling to manage big and difficult emotions, have low self-esteem, or who are struggling to engage with day to day life.
CMHP's are confident in their ability to assess risk and make professional decisions to ensure that children are kept safe and feel supported.
