Parent & Child Consultations

Understanding your child's world AND your experience as a parent

What makes us different?

Most consultations focus only on what's "wrong" with your child. We understand that parenting capacity, stress, confidence, and wellbeing are just as important as understanding your child's challenges. We support the whole family system – because when parents feel understood and empowered, children flourish.

Our Dual Focus Approach

We believe that effective child psychology consultations must address both the child's needs and the parent's experience. You can't support a child without supporting their parent. Our approach gives equal weight to understanding your parenting journey alongside your child's challenges.

Understanding YOU

Your experience matters just as much

Your parenting stress levels – How overwhelmed are you feeling?

Your self-compassion – How kindly do you treat yourself?

Your confidence – Do you trust your parenting instincts?

Your support network – Who's there for you?

Your strengths – What are you already doing brilliantly?

Your relationship with your child – What feels good? What's hard?

Your theories and gut feelings – You know your child better than anyone

Understanding your CHILD

Seeing the whole child, not just the challenges

Their perspective – What do THEY find hard? What helps them?

Their strengths and interests – What lights them up?

Their behaviour patterns – What's really going on beneath the surface?

Their emotional world – How do they experience things?

Their neurodevelopment – How does their brain work?

Their relationships – How do they connect with others?

Their voice in solutions – What would THEY like to change?

The truth?

Parenting a child with challenges is exhausting. Your stress, your self-doubt, your depletion – these aren't weaknesses. They're normal responses to genuinely difficult circumstances. We see you, we understand, and we're here to support YOU as much as your child.

Why We Assess Parenting Capacity & Experience

Parental Stress Scale

A validated measure that helps us understand the level of stress you're experiencing in your parenting role. High parental stress is linked to difficulties in emotional regulation, reduced parenting sensitivity, and increased parent-child conflict. Knowing your stress level helps us tailor our support and, crucially, address it directly – because reducing parental stress often improves child outcomes more effectively than child-focused interventions alone.

Self-Compassion Scale

This measures how kindly you treat yourself, especially when things go wrong. Parents with higher self-compassion experience less stress, depression, and burnout. They're also more emotionally available to their children and more able to implement strategies consistently. If your self-compassion is low, we can work on this – and it often makes more difference than any parenting technique.

Parenting Confidence & Capacity

We ask about your confidence, your strengths, your challenges, and your support network. Parents who feel capable and supported are better able to manage difficult behaviours, stay regulated during meltdowns, and maintain connection with their child. Understanding your capacity helps us give you realistic, achievable strategies rather than an overwhelming list that leaves you feeling more inadequate.

Parent-Child Relationship Quality

The quality of your relationship with your child matters more than any intervention we could suggest. We explore what moments feel good, what triggers conflict, and how connected you feel. Often, the most powerful work we do is helping repair and strengthen this relationship – because children change when they feel understood and safe, not when we "fix" them.

The Bottom Line:

We don't just ask "What's wrong with your child?" We ask "How are YOU? What do you need? How can we support your capacity to parent well?" Because the research is clear: when parents are supported, understood, and compassionate with themselves, children do better. Every single time.

Before We Meet: Parent Reflection Process

The foundation

What happens: You complete our comprehensive Parent Reflection & Intake Form. This isn't just a list of your child's problems. It includes validated psychometric measures (Parental Stress Scale, Self-Compassion Scale) and in-depth questions about YOUR experience of parenting, your strengths, your challenges, your support, and your relationship with your child.

Why this matters: This reflective process serves multiple purposes. It helps you pause and think deeply about what's really going on. It gives us rich information to review before we meet. And it signals something important: we care about YOU, not just your child's behaviour.

What Parents Tell Us

"Just completing the form helped me realise how stressed I've been. I thought I was fine, but seeing my answers, I realised I've been running on empty. It felt like someone finally cared about how I was doing."

How Our Consultations Work

The Parent Consultation: Understanding Together

Deep dive

What happens: We spend 30-40 minutes together (just you, without your child) exploring what's going on. This isn't interrogation – it's collaborative understanding. We discuss your reflection form, explore patterns, consider your child's neurodevelopment, and – crucially – talk about YOUR wellbeing and capacity. This protected time is for YOU. Many parents have never had space to talk honestly about how hard it is, without judgment. We explore what's depleting you, what's sustaining you, and how we can support your capacity – because supporting you IS supporting your child.

Why this matters: This protected time is for YOU. Many parents have never had space to talk honestly about how hard it is, without judgment. We explore what's depleting you, what's sustaining you, and how we can support your capacity – because supporting you IS supporting your child.

Real example:

A mum came for help with her son's "defiance." Her stress scale score was extremely high. During our consultation, she shared she'd been managing everything alone since her partner's work changed. We addressed her depletion first – practical support, self-compassion work, lowering unrealistic expectations. Within weeks, her son's behaviour improved. Not because we "fixed" him, but because she had capacity to connect rather than react.

What we explore: Your stress and self-compassion scores, your support network and capacity, your parenting strengths (yes, really!), your relationship with your child, your theories about what's happening, and strategies tailored to YOUR family's specific situation and YOUR current capacity level.

The Greenhouse Toolkit: Your Child's Voice

The game-changer

What happens: Using our unique Greenhouse Toolkit, we work directly with your child to understand THEIR perspective. What do they find hard? What helps them? What would they like to change? We facilitate conversations between you and your child, helping you both hear each other differently.

Why this is revolutionary: Most parent consultations talk ABOUT the child. We talk WITH your child. They have insights you'd never guess. They have ideas that might actually work. They feel heard, not "fixed." And parents often have revelations about their child's inner world that shift everything.

Real example:

A parent said their 7-year-old "refuses to listen." The Greenhouse session revealed the child felt constantly nagged. Together, we created a visual chart the child designed – suddenly cooperation improved because they had ownership. But the real shift? The parent realised their stress was making them bark orders rather than connect. We worked on the parent's depletion, and the whole family dynamic changed.

How this helps everyone FLOURISH: When children feel heard and involved in solutions, they're more motivated to try strategies. When parents understand their child's actual perspective (not what they assumed), empathy increases. When we address parent wellbeing alongside child behaviour, sustainable change happens. Family dynamics shift.

After Our Session: Comprehensive Support

Ongoing support

What you receive: A comprehensive summary report including your psychometric results, what we discussed, psychological insights about both you AND your child, recommended strategies matched to your current capacity, and next steps. Plus a personalised resource pack – books, websites, activities, local services – tailored to your family's specific needs.

Why this matters: You won't remember everything from 90 minutes. The report means you can refer back when you need it. We'll highlight areas for YOU to focus on too – maybe building your support network, practicing self-compassion, or addressing your stress. The resources mean you're not left googling "how to help anxious child" at midnight – we've curated quality options for you.

SUPPORT that continues: Our support doesn't end when the session does. You have strategies to try, resources to explore, a clear understanding of your child, AND crucially – a better understanding of yourself and your needs. You leave feeling capable, not overwhelmed. Because we've worked WITH your capacity, not against it.

Fees & What's Included

Complete Consultation Package

£220

This covers the full consultation process, not just the 90-minute session

What's Included:

Pre-session work: Comprehensive Parent Reflection & Intake Form including validated Parental Stress Scale and Self-Compassion Scale (reviewed by Zara before you meet)

90-minute face-to-face consultation (in-person or online) with dual focus on parent wellbeing and child needs

Protected parent consultation time – understanding YOUR experience and capacity

The Greenhouse Toolkit child-led planning session

Facilitated parent-child conversations – helping you hear each other differently

Post-session work: Comprehensive written summary report including psychometric results, recommendations for both parent support and child strategies

Personalised resource pack tailored to your family's needs AND your current capacity

Delivered by Zara or our qualified associate team

Not sure if this is right for your family? Get in touch and we can discuss your needs - no obligation.