Mental health care tailored to the unique challenges of teenagers and young adults.
Overview
At BPS Clinic, we provide compassionate, evidence-based mental health care for children, adolescents and their families. Our biopsychosocial approach ensures that assessments and treatment plans consider the whole child or adolescent – not just their symptoms or behaviours.
What to Expect
An initial family consultation helps us understand your concerns and determine the most appropriate assessment and treatment options. Throughout the care process, we maintain open communication and adapt treatment plans as needed.
Areas of Focus
We support children, teens, and families facing:
Emotional challenges (anxiety, depression, mood regulation)
Behavioural difficulties (anger, aggression, stealing, lying)
Developmental concerns
Neurodiversity (ADHD, autism, learning differences)
Trauma and attachment issues
Academic and peer relationship challenges
Family transitions and communication difficulties
5 Under Teen Psychological Consultation Service
This psychological counselling service is designed for minors aged 5 to adolescence.
It offers brief counselling aimed at addressing specific issues that arise during developmental years, focusing on the emergence or persistence of certain problems. The service consists of five sessions that help establish an initial understanding of the child's psychological situation and the challenges the family is currently facing.
The process includes:
- An intake interview with the parents
- A meeting with the child, which includes an interview and free play
- A meeting with the child for the administration of pencil-and-paper tests (Projective Tests)
- A meeting with the child for the Children's Appreciation Test (CAT) - a type of projective test
- A feedback meeting with the parents
Parent Intake Interview:
The initial meeting involves a discussion with the parents to understand the reasons for seeking consultation for their child. We will explore the current situation, any concerning behaviours, and specific worries the parents may have. We will also gather relevant background information, known as anamnesis, and we will guide the parents on how to communicate with their child about the upcoming consultation with a clinical psychologist or psychotherapist to ensure the child is aware and understands the process.
First Meeting with the Child:
This initial meeting includes an informal interview with the child, observation of their behaviour, and free playtime. The goal is to help the child gradually adapt to the clinical environment, which differs from their usual experiences when visiting a doctor. This session also serves as an opportunity to collect preliminary information through participating observation.
Second Meeting with the Child:
In this session, paper-and-pencil tests such as the DAP (Draw a Person) and the DAF (Draw a Family) will be administered. These widely used tests aid in the diagnostic process and screening of children.
Third Meeting with the Child:
The Children’s Appreciation Test (CAT) will be conducted during this meeting.
Restitution session
The clinician will share the results of the assessments with the parents and provide guidance on the next steps to take. The purpose of the restitution session is to share with the parents my clinical observation, and some explanations about the kid’s behavior and set up the next steps to run.
Further Insights:
Why Use Projective Tests?
Projection is an unconscious mechanism through which individuals organize and structure their experiences by projecting their internal feelings onto them, effectively reflecting their personality. In this sense, projective tests measure how children have internalized their experiences, not the experiences themselves. These tests inherently involve projective identification, which serves as the foundation for interpretation. For instance this occurs when a child identifies with a film's protagonist, allowing them to reflect on their own experiences based on what they find more or less relatable.
Whitin the conceptual frame work of the Freudian Psychoanalysis, The concept of "projective" techniques for personality investigation was established in 1939, although such methods had begun to emerge in the late 19th century. Frank (1939) described this process as "structural projection," which refers to the way a person organises and structures their vital experiences, particularly unstructured material, by projecting their internal experiences and the very structure of their personality onto it.
3. Drawing is the primary means of communication that children possess and prefer. Through drawing, they express their inner world by synthesising what they want to convey with the expressive tools available to them. Typically, children draw images based on three main sources: memory, fantasy, and reality.
4. The CAT (Children Apperception Test) is a projective test designed for children from aged 3 onwards. It consists of ten images depicting animals in various situations. This tool allows for imaginative narratives about the images, each representing a particular problem. It helps in understanding the relationships between the child and the characters presented, exploring sibling rivalry, familiar attitudes, and how the child perceives their family. Moreover, it seeks to uncover the child's fears regarding aggression, their acceptance by the adult world, and anxieties about being alone. Analysing the stories produced can provide insights into certain aspects of the child's personality.
When to Request This Type of Consultation:
This brief consultation is particularly suitable for children and parents facing issues such as:
Aggression and excessive anger
Difficulty with separation and individuation
Behavioural disorders
Developmental disharmonies
Emotional dysregulation
Isolation or social withdrawal
Sleep-related disorders
In-depth analysis of emotional aspects for children with a known diagnosis of neurodivergence
Enuresis and encopresis
Disorders related to eating and food-related interactions
Family stress situations caused by significant events, such as bereavement, major illness, or parental separation and its ensuing challenges
Adoption
Anxiety
School and exam anxiety-related issues
Sadness
Conflicts with friends/ siblings
This type of intervention is ideal if you are uncertain about starting psychotherapy for your child but would like a space to reflect with an expert in developmental issues. It is essential for parents to be engaged in understanding what their child is experiencing and to collaborate in assessing and modifying the current situation.
When Not to Request It:
- When the child already has a diagnosis within the autism spectrum disorder.
- When the parents do not wish to be involved in the process of change.
- When there are specific requests, such as “improving” or “decreasing” a particular ability or characteristic of the child.
- if you need a neurodevelopmental assessment for school accommodation
Advantages:
- It allows for the formulation of more accurate diagnostic hypotheses and facilitates differential diagnosis, which is useful for planning appropriate therapeutic interventions.
- It aids in prevention by identifying individuals at higher risk of developing psychopathology.
Disadvantages:
- The assessment is conducted at a single point in time and attempts to measure the child's functioning in the present moment. However, children are constantly developing and changing, which is why this stage of life is referred to as the developmental age.
- It is crucial to involve the child's primary caregivers in the process. Considering the relational context in which the child is situated is essential. Additionally, when working with caregivers, clinicians must be careful not to portray the child as the "broken" element of the family in the eyes of the parents.
Neurodiversity
In the original definition, attributed to the Australian sociologist Judy Singer (late 1990s), “Neurodiversity refers to the virtually infinite neuro-cognitive variability within Earth’s human population. It points to the fact that every human has a unique nervous system with a unique combination of abilities and needs”.
(Neurotypical, to the contrary, refers to individuals whose neurological development and functioning are consistent with what society tends to consider the norm.)
To understand better this concept, we might relate it to the broader concept of Biodiversity, a term usually associated with advocating for the conservation of species. At its core, neurodiversity acknowledges that every brain is different and that there is no single “normal” way to think, learn or feel.
In fact, the Spectrum of Neurodiversity includes very different conceptual variations: amongst those, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, ADHD, Dyslexia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome and combinations of those. Some of the researchers focusing on neurodivergence include OCD, Alexithymia and Bipolar Disorder amongst the conditions falling in the umbrella.
Despite those definitions clearly point in the direction of “missing functionalities”, neurodiversity entails both challenges and strengths. Understanding the individual and subjective strengths of each patient alongside the daily challenges they are facing is key to an approach that wants to be comprehensive and integrative: that’s what we aim for.
With growing evidence of increasing diagnosed prevalence of neurodivergent traits in the general population, we are observing a cultural shift from the typical Medical Model of neurodivergence as a “disease to treat” to a Social Model, which advocates for neurodivergent people’s rights and empowerment, promoting inclusion and acceptance of non-conforming traits, encouraging accommodations and flexibility in schools, university and work environments with the ultimate goal of shifting focus from “fixing” people to valuing diversity.
Under this banner, we strive to see beyond the diagnosis and recognise the whole person. We believe in promoting inclusion, self-understanding, and support tailored specifically to the individual needs.
