Assessments

It can be helpful for parents / carers to get a thorough assessment of their child’s difficulties alongside some recommendations for what might help.  This is called a “State of Mind Assessment” and is typically 6-8 sessions.  It will include meetings with parents / carers to find out about the current difficulties and the family history / child’s history, going back to early years.  It will usually include 3-4 sessions with the child alone, or for under 5s often the child with the parents / carers.  It may include one or two whole-family sessions, particularly where the relationship with siblings seems particularly important to understand.  The assessment will conclude with a meeting with parents / carers, and – depending on the age of the child / young person – the young person may wish to join this final meeting as well.  Levels of confidentiality of sessions will be different for a State of Mind assessment compared to psychotherapy, and this will need to be discussed at the outset with the child / young person, so that they are aware of the purpose of this assessment.

There is the option to have either a summary report,  which will list the main difficulties and a brief section summarising recommendations – or a full report, which is likely to run to around 12-15 pages and includes much more detail about observations from the assessment, likely explanations for these and recommendations of how best to help.  In some cases a discussion during the final meeting may be enough for parents / carers to get a better understanding of their child’s difficulties without the need for a written report.

The fee is £70 per clinical session and £70 per hour spent writing the report (typically 3-4 hours).