Hello, I’m Claire and I wanted to let you know what drove me to start Child-led Emotion Coaching.
I’ve have always had an interest in mental well-being, how our minds work and how this links to our behaviours, leading me in younger life to study Psychology and complete a degree in Sociology.
In more recent times, I’ve worked as a Teaching Assistant in the education system and this curiosity led me down the path of training to become a qualified ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant), and later a wellbeing lead for two schools.
I have continued to expand my knowledge and train in other mental health therapies such as Trauma Informed, Drawing and Talking and Sand Tray Play which has allowed me to use a blended, person-centred approach to coaching in order to have a flexible, personalised fit for each child.
These child-led play therapies are a wonderful way of exploring a child’s emotions in a non-threatening manner and processing any tricky feelings - see my Therapies page for more information about these transformational interventions.
Working closely with young children, I’ve found I can instinctively see beyond the behaviours being displayed and forge a trusted relationship with them to enable me to get to the root of the issue with empathy and playfulness.
By letting them take the lead in exploring their emotions I find that a child gains a sense of control and achievement with a positive outcome.
As a mum I understand the reality of parenting in this day and age and the challenges that we face in helping our young people navigate life. Sometimes, we all need a little support and asking for it should never be seen as negative.
I believe it is incredibly important to influence a child’s sense of self and self-worth in a positive way as early on in their life as possible, to empower them to confidently be themselves and to guide them on the right path to becoming well-adjusted, regulated individuals.
I have worked with many children over the years to guide them to overcome social and emotional difficulties in a gentle, caring way and have seen a significant increase in the numbers of young people presenting with a need for this kind of intervention in the last few years.
There is not always time in educational settings to address these needs and I have always found that allowing a child to have one to one time with a trusted adult in a child-led way can be transformational for them – to ‘be heard’.
This has led me to start Child-led Emotion Coaching and offer non-intrusive one to one coaching service for children that are experiencing emotional issues or traumatic events to those of you that want additional support for your child and includes feeding useful resources and techniques back to you the parent/carer so that we are working in unison for the good of your child.
I am so excited to be offering this service from my ‘Calm Cabin’ and passionate about making a difference to the small people that I will meet, if you’d like to talk more, please see the How It Works page to understand the next steps.
9yr old boy's mum : "he always feels very relaxed and comfortable in his sessions and we have seen a vast improvement in how he deals with his worries and emotions. We feel he has taken away coping strategies that will help him now and in the future. We are very glad we found Claire!"