Psychotherapies

  • Reflections from the room

    When young people bring their own digital support into therapy

    Some young people come to therapy already using apps, videos or chatbots to help them through difficult moments. Asking about that support can be a useful way into the work. The answers can tell a clinician a good deal about the young person, and they open questions about the tools themselves and about how the family sees them.

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  • Reflections from the room

    Compliance as a trauma response in children

    A child who smiles and causes no trouble at school is easy to overlook. In the session on mentalising with complex trauma in children and families, Dr Emma Morris described how, in some children who have experienced early relational trauma, compliance may be mistaken for a sign that all is well. A mentalising lens offers another reading, in which compliance may be a way of staying safe, and that reading can shape what support comes first.

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  • Portrait of Teenage girl with Down syndrome listening to music in headphones sitting on sofa at home

    Understanding self injury in children with learning disabilities

    Self-injury in children with learning disabilities requires an assessment that brings together health, communication, learning and individual differences (Richards et al., 2024). The evidence supports investigating the circumstances surrounding behaviour while remaining alert to pain, poor sleep and difficulties regulating behaviour. These influences can interact, making an individualised understanding essential (Oliver et al., 2020).

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  • Reflections from the room

    Using a case formulation to identify what maintains anxiety

    Case conceptualisation helps clinicians move from a description of a young person’s symptoms to an account of what may be keeping them going. In the session on science-informed case conceptualisation, Professor Bryce McLeod illustrated his five-step model with a single case of social anxiety in a young adolescent girl. The case shows how a formulation can bring maintaining factors into view, including the coping strategies of the girl and her mother, and then shape treatment and the conversation with the family.

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  • Unhappy Teenage Girl Lying On Bed At Home With Mobile Phone

    Engaging young people in therapeutic conversations about self harm

    Conversations after self-harm can help young people understand their experiences and identify changes that matter to them. McCabe et al. (2026) describe how the Supporting Adolescents with Self-Harm (SASH) intervention combines therapeutic assessment, enhanced safety planning and solution-focused brief therapy. Through four young people’s cases and one carer’s case, they illustrate collaborative work grounded in each person’s language, relationships and hopes, offering examples of practice and proposed mechanisms of change, rather than trial results demonstrating that SASH reduces subsequent self-harm.

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  • Tara Murphy

    Tics and Tourette Syndrome in Children and Young People: Assessment and Treatment

    This online session with Dr. Tara Murphy will explore how tics and Tourette Syndrome can be recognised and distinguished from other presentations, and how co-occurring conditions may shape assessment.

    Event type
    Session
    Location
    Online
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  • Reflections from the room

    Where to start when ADHD and Depression overlap

    During her talk on treating ADHD and depression, Dr Ramya Srinivasan opened with a case. The question, then, was not simply whether he was struggling, but what was driving that change. Was this part of his ADHD, a sign of depression, or some combination of the two?

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  • awake teenage girl lying at home at night

    When ‘Insomnia’ Is Not Insomnia: Understanding Circadian Delay in Adolescents

    Could teenage “insomnia” actually be circadian delay? Explore how puberty, school schedules, and biological sleep timing may shape adolescent sleep problems.

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  • Anthea Sutton

    From Evidence to Practice: EMDR for Children and Adolescents with PTSD

    How effectively does the research evidence support EMDR for children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder, and how does that evidence translate to everyday therapeutic practice? This presentation will explore the bridge between rigorous research synthesis and front-line clinical expertise. Anthea Sutton (pic) and Dr. Russell Hurn present this session which is JUST £5 for non-paying members and FREE to paying members.

    Event type
    ACEs SIG Monthly seminars
    Location
    Online
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  • Jake Camp

    Adapting DBT-A Skills Training through a Neuroaffirmative Lens

    This online session led by Dr. Jake Camp will explore how neuroaffirmative principles can inform the delivery of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) skills training.

    Event type
    Workshop
    Location
    Online
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