Growing up has never been easy - but today’s children and young people face pressures that previous generations simply didn’t have to deal with.

Social media, constant comparison, academic pressure, bullying, expectations around appearance and the pressure to fit in can have a huge impact on confidence and emotional wellbeing. Add in family changes, fears, poor sleep or simply feeling overwhelmed, and it’s understandable that some young people can struggle to cope.

“My son really connected with Mike as his warm, friendly and gentle approach helped make him feel at ease. Whatever he did was like magic and I couldn’t recommend Mike highly enough”

This work is personal to me

My decision to come into this work was shaped by losing my own daughter following a long struggle with her mental health that began in her mid-teens. That experience changed me profoundly and gave me a very different understanding of what it can be like for a young person who is struggling - and for the people who love them and desperately want to help.

It is one of the reasons I care so deeply about helping young people find support, confidence and a way forward before their struggles become overwhelming.

I’ve worked successfully with children & young people to overcome issues such as:

Low confidence and self-esteem

Anxiety

Compulsive behaviours

Fears and phobias

Disordered eating

Sleep difficulties

Performance anxiety

Emotional overwhelm

Establishing Trust

The most important part of working with a young person is building trust and rapport.

They need to feel comfortable, listened to and understood - not judged, lectured or talked down to.

I’ve developed a strong ability to connect with young people and create that sense of safety, often helping them open up about things they may find difficult to discuss with parents, teachers or other adults.

Sometimes they simply don't know how to explain what's wrong. They just know that they don't feel right, they're struggling to cope, or that life has become harder than it used to be. That's where the right relationship really matters.

I don't tell them how they should feel. I help them understand what they're experiencing, develop practical tools to manage it and recognise that they have more ability and control than they may realise.

Looking beneath the surface

What we see on the outside isn't always what's driving the problem underneath.

Anxiety, lack of confidence, compulsive behaviours, fears and other difficulties can be connected to deeply established subconscious patterns of thinking, feeling and responding - patterns that can develop over time, often without the young person even realising it.

As a hypnotherapist, I don't simply focus on managing the behaviour or teaching a young person to cope with the symptoms. I look beneath the surface and work with the underlying patterns that can be keeping the problem going.

By working at this deeper level, we can begin to change the way their mind responds - helping them feel differently, think differently and respond differently to situations that may previously have felt overwhelming.

The aim isn't to teach them to pretend everything is fine. It's about creating real change from the inside out, so that greater confidence, calm and control can become a natural part of how they experience the world.

Don’t let things build up

When a parent comes to me, their child is often struggling quite badly. For parents, it can be frightening and incredibly difficult to know what to do or where to turn. For the young person, it can feel as though they're trapped in something they don't know how to change.

This can be a pivotal point in a young person's life - a time when the right support can make a profound difference to how they see themselves, how they cope with challenges and how they move forward.

Helping a young person change how they feel about themselves today can influence the direction of their life for years to come.