Therapeutic Needs Assessments
Giving you clear guidance for the next steps
Therapeutic Needs Assessments in Tunbridge Wells to help families better understand their child’s emotional, behavioural and developmental needs.
About
When a child is struggling, it can be difficult to know what type of support they need. Families are often faced with a number of options, including psychotherapy, counselling, CBT, play therapy, parenting support or further assessment, and it can be hard to know where to begin.
A Therapeutic Needs Assessment provides an opportunity to step back and build a fuller understanding of your child’s emotional wellbeing, development, relationships and wider experiences before deciding on the most appropriate support.
Rather than moving between different interventions in a trial-and-error way, the assessment helps identify what your child may need and provides clear recommendations to guide the next steps.
A Therapeutic Needs Assessment can also provide a valuable shared understanding between families, schools and professionals, supporting more joined-up care around your child.
Who can benefit from a Therapeutic Needs Assessment?
A Therapeutic Needs Assessment may be helpful when there is uncertainty about what kind of support your child needs, or when previous approaches have not fully met their needs.
Assessments can support children and young people experiencing anxiety, emotional dysregulation, behavioural difficulties, school-based anxiety, emotionally based school avoidance, relationship difficulties, low mood, trauma, loss or early experiences of disruption.
They may also be helpful for adopted children, children in kinship care or Looked After backgrounds, and children with autism, ADHD or other neurodevelopmental differences.
Assessments are often requested by parents, schools and professionals such as social workers, SENCOs, paediatricians or other clinicians. A formal diagnosis is not needed. The assessment is intended to provide a clearer understanding of your child and practical guidance about the most appropriate support.
Our Approach
Our first priority is to make sure children and families are accessing the right kind of therapeutic support.
The process begins with a review of any previous reports, assessments or professional information. This is followed by a 90-minute parent consultation to explore your child’s developmental history, family context, current difficulties and the concerns that have led you to seek support.
Your child will then attend two assessment sessions with a psychotherapist at our Tunbridge Wells clinic. Depending on their age and needs, sessions may involve talking, play, creativity or other age-appropriate ways of communicating.
After the assessment, you will receive a detailed written report with clinical observations, formulation and clear recommendations. This may include psychotherapy, counselling, therapeutic parent support, school-based recommendations, neurodevelopmental assessment pathways or referrals to other professionals where appropriate.
You will also be offered a 30-minute feedback meeting with the assessing psychotherapist to talk through the report, understand the recommendations and consider next steps for your child and family.
Contact us to arrange you free consultation phone call