CHILDHOOD ISSUES

This page relates to therapy for adults with unresolved issues or concerns from their childhood.

For most children, childhood is a time to learn, grow, play and get to find their way in life in a nurturing environment of innocence and safety. But not all children experience this. Many children grow up under conditions of sustained stress.

If our childhood was unhappy, or left emotional scars or continuing stresses, it is possible that this could be impacting our present day living. Therapy provides an opportunity to increase our understanding of the impact of these events, to be supported in our re-experiencing, to gain perspective and maybe some insight too. The act of processing in therapy offers us the potential to move into a more peaceful life space going forwards.

The first step in working with childhood issues is to establish a sense of safety so that there is a felt sense of security, stability and reliability in the therapy setting. The work is slow and gentle and goes at the client’s pace. Encouragement is given to check how supported we feel before we bring anything in so that the process stays manageable from an emotional point of view throughout. The work takes place within the therapeutic relationship and the psychodynamic approach offers the potential to facilitate the client in being more fully seen and understood. It offers the potential to work through our story, to make sense of what happened, to understand things better, to process and to gain a new perspective on past situations.