Gaming

Where to start

For almost everything, the NHS is the right first move, and it costs nothing.

• Your child’s school. The pastoral lead, the head of year, or the form tutor. Free, already knows your child, and often the fastest route to a change that helps. Before or alongside anything else. A school cannot act on what it has not been told, and what you bring is often what it did not have.
• Your GP. The gateway to everything the NHS offers a child: paediatric assessment, a referral to CAMHS, and support for you as the parent. Ask for a double appointment. Describe the pattern over weeks rather than the worst single day, and say plainly what you are worried about. Bring a written list; the ten minutes go quickly. www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp

For gaming

• Internet Matters. The UK’s leading not-for-profit on children’s online safety. Co-founded by BT, Sky and other major UK ISPs. Their parent guides on AI tools, algorithmic feeds, and platform-specific settings are the cleanest practical primer we know. When a parent needs concrete handles on AI tools, social media platforms, gaming, screen time, or device controls. Their age-banded guides are particularly useful for parents new to a category. www.internetmatters.org
• UK Safer Internet Centre. The UK’s hub for online-safety guidance, run by a partnership of three charities. Their parent-facing pages on age-banded online safety are clear, calm and current. When the chapter is about the everyday textures of online life, age-by-age platform guidance, or the parent who wants a UK-anchored, evidence-based primer that is not pitched at the crisis end. The Professionals Online Safety Helpline is open to parents and is, in my experience, a particularly useful line for situations that are serious but not criminal. Call cost depends on your phone package, so it may not be free. Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, email only saferinternet.org.uk

If you are considering private therapy

Waiting lists are long. If you can meet the cost, a registered therapist can usually be seen in weeks rather than months. Both registers below are accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, which is the thing to check before anything else.

• BACP Therapist Directory. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s public register. Search by area, by what you are bringing, and by whether the therapist works with children. www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists
• NCPS Therapist Directory. The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society’s register. Every therapist listed is qualified, supervised, insured, and accountable to a code of ethics. ncps.com/find-a-counsellor
• Kensington Square Therapy. Our own practice. We work with children, young people and parents, in the room at 23 Kensington Square, online, and inside schools we partner with. www.kst.ltd

What to look for in a therapist, what a first session is like, and the questions worth asking before you commit, are set out at theparentbook.com/finding-a-therapist

Everything else

The full directory, across every subject, is at theparentbook.com/services. If a number here has changed, please tell us at hello@theparentbook.com and we will correct it.