Testimonials

 My daughter has autism and ADHD and was suffering with high level so of anxiety when we first saw Jen. We had tried getting help through CAHMS and this had just left our daughter with deep seated mistrust of mental health professionals, which she refused to engage with in any way.

Jen showed an extreme amount of patience, gaining our daughter's trust through play for months before approaching any difficulties. Slowly but surely, our daughter learned to trust Jen, who truly became her safe space to vent her feelings and work towards solutions to difficult problems. 

Jen also supported us through the minefield of parenting a child with mental health issues and became the mental health professional that I trusted the most. She provided the same support to me, becoming a place to express my concerns and feel supported and the person to help me advocate for my daughters needs within the health and education system.

Our son has been coming to see Jen for a few years now after a really difficult period at school and poor mental health. Our son is autistic and was struggling massively with his mainstream school, obsessive behaviours, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. From the first consultation I knew we were in good hands. Jen is warm, friendly, gentle and kind, and immediately put us all at ease—letting our son go at his own pace, play, explore, and talk as much or as little as he wanted to. He doesn’t usually ever talk to anyone other than his immediate family about really personal feelings, so the fact that he opened up to Jen so quickly was another sign that we’d made the right choice.

They have a fantastic relationship and he always looks forward to seeing her. When things at his mainstream school were really difficult, his sessions with Jen were an absolutely vital release for him—and an important validation outside his immediate family that someone was listening to him and sympathising with what he was going through. As things have improved, there are also many times when he just enjoys going to see Jen and chatting about his day, his hobbies, or all the good things going on, which is equally lovely, because it’s helped him to feel more positive about life, too. 

Whatever mood he’s in, Jen is always totally flexible and lets him set the tone, while also gently guiding him to think about how to deal with the challenges he faces in a practical way. Jen also checks in with us as parents regularly, making sure she’s got the right contextual information to support him, and ensuring there’s consistency in how we’re all approaching a situation. 

When we realised mainstream wasn’t meeting our son’s SEN needs and began pursuing an EHCP, Jen was an absolute lifeline in her knowledge and experience of supporting children with additional needs, writing letters and references of support, as well as helping us to navigate the whole process. Trying to advocate for your child can be so incredibly difficult but it made such a difference knowing we had Jen to support us—even offering to accompany us to meetings if necessary. 

The change in our son since coming to see Jen is absolutely phenomenal. At his darkest point, he was in almost constant shutdown mode at school and struggling to find any point to life at all. Now he is his true bubbly, bright, enthusiastic, confident self, and has learned some really valuable skills in terms of identifying and processing his own emotions and responses in a healthy way—something that he has always struggled with.

We are so glad we found Jen. I know for a fact things would be very different for us as a family if we hadn’t had such an amazing therapist by our side over the last few years. 

Thank you Jen. 

Our daughter is 10, she is autistic with a PDA profile and has extreme anxiety. She has now been out of school for a year following burnout caused by school related trauma and the impact of Covid.
 

Jen has been working with our daughter for the past 18 months. Jen has built a trusting relationship with her and has been able to work with her when she was unable to communicate with us or others. Jen is able to meet our daughter where she is and help her to explore the world safely from her perspective, including things she finds difficult or down right terrifying. Jen has been able to understand our daughters need for control, her easily triggered trauma response and allows our daughter to guide sessions. Jen is helping our daughter to find joy in the world again, to be able to play and communicate her needs.
 

We are now starting to see our lovely daughter emerge again, we are on a journey and have a long way to go. We believe that Jen’s support has greatly supported our daughter’s recovery so far. It is a very isolating and lonely world being too scared to leave the house and too overwhelmed to interact with others even when you want to. Our daughter looks forward to seeing Jen and loves her time with her.
 

Jen also has a good understanding of the impact of our daughter’s trauma and burnout on us as parents and also family and friends. She takes a holistic approach to working with us. She is thoughtful, supportive and empathetic and helps us also to think things through and helps us to better support our daughter too.
 

Thank you Jen 

Jen has worked with our 13-year-old daughter for the past year, supporting not just her but us as a family, through some difficult times.  Our daughter is autistic with PDA traits and on the ADHD pathway.  She trusted Jen and was able to find her voice to make positive changes for herself, understanding the triggers around her and finding ways to manage her anxiety.  Our daughter has not been into school for the past 10 months and Jen has been our advocate when communicating with school and supported us in applying for an educational health plan needs assessment. Without Jen, we would have struggled to navigate the past 10 months and find a way forward to support our daughter ourselves.  Jen is kind and caring with so much knowledge but extremely professional at the same time. 

You have to feel safe, to speak with a person freely, don’t you?  There’s an extra level of trust needed to talk about how you truly feel about the most difficult aspects of your life.  Then there’s my first born and they need a trusted adult level.  I can’t tell you how very scared I was to start this process.  There’s this huge leap of faith that you get to just before the first session and you know that this is the time to bail if something doesn’t feel right.

That feeling never came.  That long anticipated anxiety was misplaced.  I found myself so driven and focused on the possibility that these hourly sessions could completely revolutionise how my child was thinking and feeling, that it didn’t even cross my mind to stop.  Since walking in on day one, I have not looked back.

Our family has a stronger bond, a healthier dynamic and a future that holds our household in a positive space. Jen is support for my child first and foremost, but in addition to that, having a professional adult to share your day to day with is priceless.  You gain an adult who is equally as devoted to resolving issues as you are.  You recognise that you have another mind to come up with different approaches and to share the emotional load of what comes to knock you down again.

That its-all-down-to-me vibe will be gone.  Give your child the space they need whilst you get yours. Just taking that hour, that I know I never would have had otherwise, gives me the reset button too.

My daughter started seeing Jen after 2nd lockdown in July 2021. At that point my daughter was unable to attend school and barely left the home. Jen worked patiently with her, building trust and confidence giving her language to express herself in a fun, relaxed environment. 

Jen worked with my daughter for 18 months building her language, self reflection skills, and confidence. 

She is now back at school full time. 

Jen's support  skills and warmth over the last 18 months have been crucial in my daughter reintegration into school and life. She worked with my daughter's needs, tailoring approach and activities which was vital in those early months when other interventions were not working. 

We cannot thank Jen enough for the support she has given us all!