CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS

Dr. Claire Hayes has a particular interest in helping children, adolescents and their parents understand and cope with anxiety and/or depression. She uses primarily a psychoeducational approach which means that she works with parents and young people to explore what is going on for them, explore the meaning for them and develop practical ways of developing resilience. All of Claire’s sessions last approximately 90 minutes and the first appointment is always for parents only. 

  • Meet with parents

    This gives parents the opportunity to describe their concerns and for Claire to take a detailed developmental history. If appropriate, she will use the ‘Coping Triangle’ process (© Hayes). This is based on cognitive behavioural principles and can be very helpful in facilitating parents to explore their own feelings, thoughts, beliefs and actions in relation to their concerns about their child as well as learning ways to help him or her cope. The session concludes with a focus on recommendations and parents generally leave with practical suggestions.

  • Meet with the child/adolescent

    One or both parents will be present for the initial part of this session and then, depending on the child’s age, they may leave for approximately an hour before re-joining. During this time Claire will work with the young person to explore what has been going on to cause concern and to see if the ‘Coping Triangle’ process will be of benefit. When parents return, she and the child/adolescent will summarise together what they had been discussing. The focus will then be on steps that the young person and/or parents can take to cope better.

  •  First follow-up appointment:

    These may take place with parents only, child/adolescent only or parents and their young person together. The initial focus will be to explore how things have been and if there have been any improvements and/or continue to be areas of concern. Depending on what is required, Claire will help the young person and/or parents cope better using a combination of cognitive behavioural, relaxation and visualisation approaches.