Child and family counsellors open their doors for children’s mental health week

Mental health professionals are forgoing the usual referrals process and talking to anyone about family issues.

Councillors are running this policy during children’s mental health week, which is from Monday, February 4 until Sunday, February 10.

Anyone is free to talk to a child specialist for 20 to 30 minutes, including young people, parents, grandparents, teachers and childminders.

Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Paula Corredor Lopez said: “The service in Newham is really, really keen to improve accessibility so that more families can benefit from the service.

We know that parents and young people do their best to manage the highs and lows of family life, and deal with bumps in the road along the way but sometimes you just might need to speak to a specialist to reassure yourself on the course of action you’ve started along.”

Newham’s children and family counselling service is testing the event to see if similar initiatives would be beneficial in the future.

You can attend the consultations in York House, Barking Road from 10am to 4pm during children’s mental health week.