Identity

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
• Private therapy, if you can meet the cost. A registered counsellor or psychotherapist, found through the BACP or NCPS directories. Waiting lists are shorter than the NHS and you choose who your child sits with. When waiting is the problem, or when you want a particular kind of help. What to look for, and what to expect, is set out at theparentbook.com/finding-a-therapist theparentbook.com/finding-a-therapist

For identity

• Brook. The UK’s national charity for young people’s sexual health and wellbeing. Their RSE pages are the cleanest single source we know for puberty, periods, and age-appropriate sex education at home. When a parent is preparing for or holding a puberty conversation, when a question about sex has arrived in the back of the car, or when a school’s RSE curriculum has prompted a follow-up at home. www.brook.org.uk
• The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN). Home to the largest UK directory of counsellors and psychotherapists of Black, African, Asian and Caribbean heritage. The right pointer for families looking for a therapist who shares the cultural reference points. Quick tips or chapters touching identity, cultural register, intergenerational difference, or any moment where a parent has indicated that finding a therapist who understands the family’s cultural background matters. Therapists in the directory hold relevant qualifications and are registered with accrediting professional bodies (BACP, NCPS, UKCP, BPS). A directory of therapists rather than a helpline. BAATN does not provide the therapy itself. www.baatn.org.uk
• YoungMinds. The leading UK youth mental health charity. Their A-Z is the first place I send parents asking about a named concern. When a parent needs a clear, accessible primer on a specific emotional or mental health concern in their child or teen. Default first signpost for the 11-to-18 age range. Parents Helpline 0808 802 5544 · Mon, Thu, Fri 9.30am-4pm; Tue, Wed 9.30am-6pm · Webchat Mon-Fri 9.30am-4pm; email parents@youngminds.org.uk www.youngminds.org.uk/parent

If your family is adoptive, fostering or kinship

• PAC-UK. The UK’s leading specialist post-adoption support charity, part of Family Action. The right pointer when adoptive-family work has tipped beyond peer support and into specialist trauma-informed therapy. Adoption tips and chapters where the family needs trauma-informed clinical support, including the teenager searching for birth family. PAC-UK is the provider many UK local authorities commission for adoption-specific therapy through the Adoption Support Fund. PAC-UK Advice Line, part of Family Action 0300 1800 090 · Mon-Wed 10am-4pm; Thu 10am-7pm; Fri 10am-1pm family-action.org.uk/get-support/pac-uk-adoption-and-special-guardianship-support
• Adoption UK. The UK’s leading peer-led charity for adoptive and kinship families. The right pointer for the parent-and-peer-support layer of post-adoption life. Adoption tips and chapters where peer support, school-curriculum sensitivity, and the everyday textures of adoptive family life are the territory. Their resources on school assignments and on adopted teenagers searching for birth family are the cleanest UK parent-facing source we know. Charged at your standard call rate, not free. Adoption UK Helpline 0300 666 0006 · Mon-Fri 10am-2.30pm; Northern Ireland Mon-Fri 9am-5pm www.adoptionuk.org
• CoramBAAF. The UK’s leading membership organisation for adoption and fostering professionals. The right pointer for adoptive parents who want to read at the policy and professional-framework layer. Adoption tips and chapters where the parent benefits from understanding the professional and policy framework her family is operating inside. Their resources on adopted adults, kinship care, and the records-access process are the right institutional reading. Written mainly for professionals. For support as a parent, Adoption UK and PAC-UK are the better first call. corambaaf.org.uk
• The Fostering Network. The UK’s leading fostering charity. The right line for foster carers across the placement lifecycle, from the first 72 hours of a placement through the harder conversations and the eventual move on. Quick tips and chapters on the fostering family. The Fostering Network’s parent-facing resources on placement settling, on the careful handling of a fostered child’s history, and on placement endings, are the cleanest UK source we know. Foster carers who are members can also use a 24-hour legal helpline. Fosterline (England) and The Fostering Network advice lines 0800 040 7675 · England Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; Scotland 10am-4pm; Wales 9.30am-12.30pm; Northern Ireland 9.30am-1.30pm www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk
• Kinship. The UK’s leading kinship-care charity, formerly known as Grandparents Plus. The right line for the family that has, often gradually, found itself parenting again because the child’s birth parents cannot. Quick tips and chapters covering the kinship-care territory. Their advice line holds the legal, financial, school and emotional layers of kinship parenting; the Someone Like Me peer-support service connects new kinship carers with experienced ones. Charged at your standard call rate, not free. Kinship Advice Line 0300 123 7015 · Mon-Fri 10.30am-1pm, excluding public holidays kinship.org.uk

For international and third-culture families

• The British Council. The UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. The right institutional reference for international families newly arrived in the UK and for households raising bilingual children. Quick tips and chapters on bilingualism, third-culture children, international families at UK schools, and the wider work of navigating UK systems from outside. The Partner Schools programme holds the international school sector; the general parent-facing pages hold material on raising bilingual and bicultural children. www.britishcouncil.org
• Council of British International Schools (COBIS). The membership organisation for British international schools, representing 331 schools in over 80 countries. The right institutional reference for international families navigating the British school sector inside or outside the UK. Quick tips and chapters touching the international family at a UK independent school, particularly around safeguarding standards, school accreditation, and the wider professional framework British international schools operate within. Written mainly for schools, so lighter for parents than the British Council pages. www.cobis.org.uk

For the decisions after eighteen

• UCAS. The UK’s central post-18 admissions service. The right institutional reference for families navigating the GCSE results, A-level choices, university applications, and the wider post-16 routes including apprenticeships. Quick tips and chapters on the school-leavers cluster, including GCSE results day, the decision not to go to university, and the apprenticeship conversation. UCAS holds the university pathway calmly; the parent-facing material on the wider routes (apprenticeships, gap years, further education) sits alongside. University admissions is the main focus. For apprenticeships in depth, apprenticeships.gov.uk is fuller. www.ucas.com/parents

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.