What is Educational Psychotherapy ?
Educational Psychotherapy is a branch of child psychotherapy which focuses on improving a child’s educational achievement.
An Educational Psychotherapist works with children and young people individually or in small groups on discovering and unlocking emotional blocks to learning.
Children and young people cannot learn when they are feeling overwhelmed by negative feelings, under-confident or anxious.
Many children cannot concentrate at school because their mind is ‘full-up’ with other worries and thoughts.
Very often they are not even aware of these other thoughts.
Some can stem from trauma such as loss, separation, bereavement, domestic violence, parental mental illness, parental drug or alcohol addiction and displacement from the family home.
Other children may experience none of these major traumas but have other worries and pre-occupations which have grown too large in their minds.
How does an Educational Psychotherapist work?
Educational Psychotherapists usually work through tasks such as reading, storywriting, drawing and play. Through the task the child may be able to express feelings and emotions which they are not able to discuss directly.
For many children this is a safer way to work and think about problems.
The Educational Psychotherapist will try to reflect back some of the child’s feelings and anxieties in a non-threatening way.
By naming and working with unspoken ‘bad’ feelings, many emotional blocks to learning can begin to disappear.
Is Educational Psychotherapy only useful for badly behaved children?
No, Educational Psychotherapy focuses on helping children achieve their real learning potential. It can help any child who appears to be ‘stuck’ in some area or not progressing as expected and where there does not appear to be any cognitive impairment.
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