Not sure whether this is the right service? Send us an enquiry and our Clinical Director, Sarah Wilson, will contact you to talk it through and help you reach the right assessment or support.
Children who join their families through adoption have almost always lived through something difficult first. Separation from birth parents, neglect or abuse, several moves between carers, and in many cases adversity that began before birth. Those experiences shape how a child manages strong feelings, whether they can trust adults, how they cope in a classroom and how they behave at home. They are easily mistaken for wilfulness, or for a straightforward neurodevelopmental condition on its own.
Our work with adoptive families begins from that history. We assess the whole picture rather than the presenting problem, and we provide continuing therapy for the child and support for parents once the assessment is complete.
Multidisciplinary assessment
Assessed and reviewed by the whole team · Children, young people and their families · In person in Hampshire or online · Written report
Who it is for
Adopted children and young people whose difficulties at home or at school may be connected to early adversity, and whose families want a clear account of what is happening and what would help.
What happens
Your child is assessed by several clinicians rather than one, and the findings are then reviewed together by the team rather than by any single professional.
What you receive
One report setting out the full assessment of need, our understanding of how the difficulties have arisen, any diagnoses, and clear recommendations for home, for school and for treatment.
Individual therapy for your child
Psychological therapy and occupational therapy · Children and young people · In person in Hampshire or online · Ongoing
An assessment is only useful if something follows from it. We provide the therapy ourselves, so the clinicians treating your child work from the assessment the team has already carried out rather than starting again from a referral letter.
Psychological therapy
Individual work with a child or young person on trauma, anxiety, low mood, anger, relationships and self-esteem. Our therapists include clinical psychologists, CBT and EMDR therapists, and a family and couples psychotherapist, so the approach is matched to the child rather than the child to the approach.
Occupational therapy
Individual work on sensory processing, regulation, motor skills, routines and the practical demands of school and home life. Sensory difficulties are common after early adversity and are frequently missed, and they are often what makes a school day unmanageable.
Where it helps, psychological and occupational therapy run alongside one another, and family therapy is available where the difficulty sits in the relationships rather than in the child alone.
Support for parents
Adoptive parents carry a great deal, and the strain is well documented. Exhaustion, hypervigilance, guilt, isolation and pressure on the couple relationship are common, and they are not a sign that anything has gone wrong with your parenting.
We have written a guide for parents and carers on understanding early trauma and what helps at home, at school and for you. It includes a short film on trauma-informed parenting, and the full guide to download and keep.
Read the parents' guide
A diagnosis is not the whole answer, and neither is trauma. Adopted children often meet the criteria for ADHD, autism or a learning difficulty, and they have also lived through early adversity. Attributing everything to one explanation, in either direction, produces a plan that does not work. This is the reason the assessment is carried out by a team.
Ready to take the next step?
Tell us what you are looking for. You do not need to know which service is right, or to have a diagnosis or a referral already.