The friendship map

The sheet

Three circles for the people in your child’s life, from the closest out, and a box for the places they might meet new people. For the weeks after a friendship changes.

To fill in together · A4 · One page · PDF, 51 KB

How it helps

When a friendship changes, a child can feel they have no one left. Putting the people in their life on paper, from the closest out, can show the child more than they expected, and an empty circle shows you both where a club or a visit might help.

How to use it

Choose a calm day in the weeks after a friendship changes, and sit down with your child and the sheet.
Let them write or draw the people in their life in the circles, as close to them as each person feels. Don’t suggest names or move anyone; a friend who has drifted can stay on the map.
Look at the box of places together, and let them tick any they’d like to try.
If a name near the middle is new to you, such as someone your child knows only online or someone much older, ask about them another day, calmly and with interest. Your child can change the map whenever they like.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with When the Best Friend Moves On and The Move to Secondary School.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.

The rest of the library

The Parent Book is a library written by therapists: chapters on the situations parents bring to our therapy rooms most often, quick tips for tonight, things to do together, and every sheet to print. One subscription opens all of it, from the day you join.

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If you need help right now

If you or your child is in immediate danger: 999 · Go to your nearest A&E · 24/7.
If either you or your child is in a mental health crisis: NHS 111 · England, Scotland and Wales: call 111 and choose the mental-health option. Northern Ireland: call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000 · 24/7.
If your child is under 19 and needs to talk to someone themselves: Childline · 0800 1111 · 24/7 · www.childline.org.uk.
If you are worried that a child is being harmed or is at risk: NSPCC Helpline · 0808 800 5000 · Mon-Fri 10am-4pm by phone; email 11am-4pm, seven days a week. An email sent when the service is closed is not received. · email help@nspcc.org.uk · www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/our-services/nspcc-helpline · If the NSPCC service is closed and the concern cannot wait, call the police on 101. You can also contact the child’s local out-of-hours children’s social care, social work or social services team. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
If you would prefer to text rather than speak: Shout · Text SHOUT to 85258 · 24/7 · giveusashout.org.
If you or someone you are worried about needs someone to talk to: Samaritans · 116 123 · 24/7 · www.samaritans.org.

If you need help right now

Published by Kensington Square Therapy. Company No. 16707111. Written by therapists registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS). This page is not therapy, and not a substitute for professional support. The full library is at theparentbook.com.