Child psychology - Swansea and Neath Port Talbot

Image shows a young girl showing an adult a drawing she has done.

What do psychologists do?

As clinical psychologists we have been trained to help people to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

We can work in a number of different settings and the teams can include trainee clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists.

We will listen to children’s concerns and those of their parents/carers. We will ask about what goals for change children and families have, before working collaboratively to start managing these concerns so that people can move closer to their goals.

This is what you can expect when you see a psychologist.
We do	We don't
like to talk to you and listen to you.	do any medical tests or examine you.
ask about any problems you might have.	read minds.
ask about you - your likes and dislikes, school and home.	make decisions for you.
play games, draw and make things.	judge people.
take your worries seriously and do our best to help you feel better.	criticise or tell people off.

What can psychologists help with?

Child psychologists focus on helping people to get on with living their lives in the way they would like. We might help children and families to think about their strengths and how to use these to overcome any challenges. We might also talk about things children and families find hard, or times people feel down or worried, and work with children, their family and those around them to find ways to manage or to overcome these. We will usually also talk with children and families about things that are good for their wellbeing and how to build these into daily lives.

For some children and families we may only need to meet up once, or we may agree that more appointments could be helpful. Sometimes psychologists just work with the key people in a child’s life, and help those people support the child themselves.

This is what you can expect when you see a psychologist

A psychology appointment gives you the opportunity to discuss any of your concerns. Appointments can be arranged so that we meet up in person, usually in a hospital or other health setting. Sometimes we might agree to arrange an appointment via Attend Anywhere (a video system for health appointments) or via telephone.

This is what you can expect when you see a psychologist:


We will	We might
Talk to you about how things are going at the moment (e.g. in school).	Ask you to keep a diary of certain feelings or behaviours so we can get to know them better.
Think about any challenges you want some help with.	Play special games and draw to get to know you better.
Meet with your family, either with you or separately if this works best.	Just talk about your health.
Talk about the things you enjoy doing.	Invite you to a workshop with other young people.

You might only need to meet up once, or we may agree that more meetings would be helpful. We will talk about this when we meet up for the first time.