About

Counselling is a safe space where you can express your feelings, understand yourself and make positive changes. My role is to help support you to do this. I have been working with children and young people for around 20 years. I qualified as a counsellor in 2011, have worked as a school counsellor for over 15 years and worked for CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) from 2005-2022.

Types of counselling:

I work with Children and Young Adults in Salisbury, Wiltshire. I like to adapt the way we work together to what works best for you and I offer different options/ways of working. Currently I am mainly working with age 11-26 year olds but can also offer younger child sessions, see below for details. I work outside offering either walking counselling routes or counselling in an outside space. I can also go into school to see children and young people by arrangement with their school.

Individual outdoor counselling sessions (for age 11+) – sometimes walking/rolling (for wheelchair users) a route that has meaning to you or just being outside can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Some people find it easier to talk when walking alongside each other rather than face to face. I have a number of areas I have risk assessed and planned out that we can walk in the Salisbury area. Some people prefer not to walk and so I adapt the session to what fits you.

I can offer younger child sessions although as I work outside my insurance requires a parent/carer to be be present or in close proximity.

Parenting Session/Parent-Child Sessions – online or outdoors – I have many years of experience working to support parents in how to improve their relationship or communication with their child/young person. I am also experienced in working with both parent and child/young person together in session.

How long do sessions last – sessions last 60 minutes and we will make a plan at the first session to think what might work best for you. We can review this as we go along. If 60 minutes feels too long then I am happy to offer shorter sessions.

How many sessions do we have – this is an individual decision but I always think it’s best to review at regular periods to make sure the sessions are working for you. Some people find that 6-8 sessions is enough and some prefer more or less. You can decide to stop counselling at any time by letting me know, preferably with 24 hours’ notice before a booked session.

School Counselling – for more information about my school counselling please contact me to discuss. I currently work in secondary schools but am also experienced in working with primary school children where I can offer a more creative/play-based therapy session. In my secondary school work my counselling sessions are adapted to fit the person I am working with but can include Lego, Art, Walking/Outside sessions.

Forest Therapy for Small Groups – I can offer small group work to schools/organisations which would work for small groups (max of 5) of children or young people to go into the forest and take part in therapeutic activities in a forest setting.

Confidentiality:

My aim is to keep our counselling sessions confidential which means I won’t talk about you to other people outside of our sessions unless I am really worried about your safety as detailed below.

Safeguarding:

If I am really worried about you and think that you are at risk I will talk to you about the need for somebody outside of our sessions to know what has happened or what is happening to you. This may include your parent/carer, your GP, a school teacher (for schools counselling) or an outside agency like safeguarding services or health services.

I would only do this if

Your life is at risk because of something you are doing.

You are at risk of harm from yourself.

You are at risk from somebody else.

You are a risk to somebody else.

In these cases, we will discuss who we need to tell and what I will tell them. I will always ask for your consent to pass on your details. I will always let you know to who I will be passing on these details and keep you informed of any actions I intend to take.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time or to stop counselling sessions.

Your Privacy and Safety:

I take the privacy and safety of my clients very seriously. When you start counselling sessions with me you give me some basic information, this information is called ‘data’. The data I take includes your name, date of birth, gender (or the gender you identify with), ethnicity, sometimes a contact name and number/email address for you or your parent and the name of your GP. I make brief notes at the end of each session. I store all this information digitally, everything is password protected. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Information about me:

My name is Emma Lawson. I live in Salisbury.

My Qualifications:

Foundation Degree in Humanistic Counselling (University Of Winchester)

Postgraduate Certificate in Enhanced Evidence-Based Practice for Children and Young People

Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology

BA (Hons) Degree in Health and Community Development

Continuing Professional Development/Short course training: CBT Skills, DBT Skills, Solution Focused Therapy, Working with Neurodivergence (ADHD/Autism/ADD) Systemic Practice (Working with systems/Families) Therapeutic Parenting, Ecotherapy/Outdoor therapy, Trauma and Attachment, Offering an inclusive practice, LGBTQ, community Race and Identity Issues, How Social issues like Discrimination and Poverty can impact on our wellbeing

My Experience: I have 20+ years experience of working in the area of children and young peoples mental health. I have also worked as a street and centre-based youth worker and a teaching assistant supporting students with SEN.

From 2005-2022 I worked for the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) offering assessment and therapeutic support. I have worked alongside Health, Education and Social Care colleagues. I have run groups for children, young people and parents. I am passionate about ensuring that children and young peoples mental health are prioritised at both a local and national level. I would like all children and young people to be able to access free mental health support when they need to.

I have worked as a School Counsellor for nearly 15 years working in both primary and secondary settings. I work alongside the school to offer a service based on the student’s needs. This is usually a time-limited number of sessions, often 8. I offer both talking based counselling sessions and also try to bring creative therapies into the counselling room including Lego, Art and Play. I can offer brief therapy sessions and single goal-orientated sessions which are based on a CBT/Solution-focused model.

My Aims in Counselling

I am interested in offering an adapted and individualised therapeutic package to the children and young people I work with to ensure they feel at their most comfortable and can achieve their goals for therapy. My aim in our counselling sessions is to learn about you and what you would like to be different about the way you feel. Together we can work out a plan of how I can support you to achieve this and what type of therapy will work best for you. I am an inclusive counsellor who is keen to ensure that all people feel accepted and included and I do this by listening to what is important to you, what has meaning to you and how you identify.

I can be contacted via my email address emmalawsoncounselling@outlook.com, my Instagram or on my mobile number 07773972084.

I have an enhanced DBS and this is updated every year.

I undertake regular safeguarding training to level 3.

I am a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP Reg No: 86299).

I am registered with the ICO (data protection).

I have monthly supervision in line with BACP guidelines.

I have my own personal indemnity insurance.

I like to receive feedback from the children and young people I work with and a survey can be completed by following this link to Survey Monkey.

Counselling Fees

My counselling fees for individual or parent-child sessions are £50 per hour. I offer a free 30-minute telephone consultation. Please contact me to discuss school counselling fees/small group forest therapy fees.

Contact

email: emmalawsoncounselling@outlook.com

Instagram

mobile: 07773972084

Other Useful Contact numbers and Websites

Shout 85258 – is a texting service. 24 hours a day. You can text them to chat about anything that is upsetting or worrying you. Text 85258.

On Your Mind – Wiltshire Mental Health helpline for children, young people and parents/carers. This service offers free counselling and online group support.

Camhs – Wiltshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. The website includes helpful information about mental health, self-help, the local helpline and how to refer.

Anna Freud Centre – Information on mental health created by young people for young people.