How Psychology
Can Help You - Frequently Asked Questions
How can I contact you?
I am happy for you to contact me at any time. Just telephone
me for an appointment or for a telephone consultation to discuss
your concerns and how I can be of help. Alternatively you
can email me to request an appointment or to pose some questions
to help decide if I can be of assistance.
Another option is to pop into The Centre where my office
is based to make an appointment or to request a time for a
short (maximum 15 minutes) free consultation to outline your
concerns and to discuss how I might be able to help, then
to make an appointment if you are happy to proceed.
Click here to Contact Stephen.
What should I do if I am concerned about my child’s
progress at school?
If you have not already done so, do make an appointment with
the school to discuss your concerns. Many schools will have
previously informed parents / carers about who to contact
in the first instance - often the classteacher in primary
schools and form tutor in secondary schools. Other helpful
people include the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
(SENCO) and the Head of Year (in secondary schools). If you
have not already been informed you may want to ask if your
child is receiving additional support under School Action
or School Action Plus. Where a child is at risk of serious
disaffection or exclusion a Pastoral Support Programme (PSP)
should be implemented. Ask about your child’s progress
and discuss the Individual Education Plan (IEP) with the school,
if one has been set up. If you remain concerned, but the school
does not wish to involve support services from the local authority,
I am happy for you to contact me for a consultation or an
assessment, counselling etc of your child.
Do you help adults with issues such as anxiety, loss
of confidence and fears?
Yes, many people have times in their life when they need professional
help to address various concerns including anxiety. Anxiety,
loss of confidence etc can be a very understandable reaction
to a difficult situation, or may arise for no clear reason.
In any event, the important thing is to receive help for ways
forward.
I have heard about the value of hypnosis and think
it might help me, but I am worried that I might be made to
do things that I don’t want to do, or won’t remember
afterwards.
Hypnosis is an invaluable tool when used as part of counselling,
not in isolation. It is a very natural and safe method, often
misunderstood, and yet has been used in various forms by many
cultures for at least hundreds of years. Hypnosis involves
focussed relaxation and concentration, to help the client
towards their goals. You will be fully in control and aware
of what is going on at all times. Adults can choose to have
another person present if you wish, and I request that another
adult be present for any child/ young person under the age
of sixteen. Hypnosis usually needs at least several sessions,
particularly as one aim is to teach the client hypnosis techniques
to use yourself in your own time to increase the effectiveness.
People often report how enjoyable the experience is.
I have more than twenty five years experience of hypnosis
and am a member of the British Society of Experimental and
Clinical Hypnosis (BSECH).
I have heard that some students can get extra help
for exams such as GCSEs and A-levels. Is that true? How can
I find out if my child is entitled to such help?
Yes, some students are entitled to exam access arrangements,
such as a reader or a scribe, if they meet the exam board
criteria. It is advised to discuss this with the school/ college
in the first instance. An educational psychologist, or a specialist
teacher with qualifications as specified by the exam board,
is needed to assess the student if it appears that they might
meet the criteria.
I wonder if my child is dyslexic. How do I check
this out and obtain help if he / she is dyslexic?
If you have not already done so, do discuss your concerns
with the school to find out their views and if your child
has been receiving, or needs to receive additional help and
what progress your child has made. I can provide a detailed
assessment to help identify a range of strengths, weaknesses
and ideas for ways forward.
I did not do too well at school, but now I want to
improve my literacy and numeracy. I am still rather embarrassed
about my difficulties and don’t know what to do.
This is a natural reaction for many people. You are not alone,
as quite a few people had difficulties when they were at school.
This could have been due to any of a number of difficulties
including poor knowledge of sounds, lack of confidence, concentration
and motivation and social difficulties. There are a number
of adult literacy, numeracy and other courses run by sympathetic
tutors and attended by others in a similar situation to you.
A consultation with myself or a detailed assessment to identify
strengths, weaknesses and strategies for learning can help
you to improve your skills and make success more likely should
you choose to join an adult education class.
My son / daughter has been diagnosed as having ADHD
but I am not sure what to do next. Can you help?
Whether a child has a diagnosis of ADHD/ ADD or not, the main
issue is what will help your son / daughter behave and learn
appropriately. I have many years as a psychologist and teacher
helping families to plan ways of managing their child’s
behaviour. This usually involves consultations with myself
to discuss the situation and help plan ways forward and sometimes
it is useful to meet the child too, for instance to get their
perspective of what is going on, help motivate them to change
and help them plan how to change.
I want to develop my skills at work and plan for
the future, but don’t know where to start.
Sign up with me for help re coaching / mentoring. Don’t
worry this is not unusual. Some businesses have supervision,
appraisal and other procedures that can help. If so, do make
use of these. But sometimes there are no such procedures,
or you would rather talk about your work needs with someone
other than a manager or someone from work.
My relation / friend has had some personal worries
for some time that they have not been able to resolve. Can
you help?
Most of us have times in our lives when we need help from
others to get us through a difficult time. Often the help
comes from our family and friends, but sometimes we need a
trained professional to talk to and plan ways forward. They
can make an appointment, then simply come and discuss their
concerns, or they are welcome to contact me first.
My child has very difficult behaviour and it is getting
me down. Is there anything that can be done?
Some children find it more difficult than others to make relationships
or behave appropriately. There can be all sorts of reasons
for this. Children are very adaptable and can change given
the right circumstances. The important thing is that you want
to do something about it. I have many years as a psychologist
helping parents / carers to find ways of improving their child’s
behaviour and social / emotional (emotional literacy) skills.
In some cases it is also useful to meet the child at some
stage to get their perspective, find out what might work with
them and help them to become motivated to change and plan
with them what they will do differently. I can also help you
to discuss ways in which you can take care of yourself, as
it is easy to think about others, but lose track of our own
needs. Contact Stephen for a confidential
consultation to help move things forward.
I have some important things in my life that I want
to change. Others keep telling me to see someone about it,
but I’m quite an independent person and don’t
like being told what to do.
This is quite a normal response. You will not be told what
to do. We sometimes have difficulty seeing the alternatives
when there is a difficulty in our life. All discussions are
confidential. I see my role as helping others to understand
their situation more clearly, think about options that they
may not have previously considered and plan what to do next.
You may well have some ideas of your own that you want to
explore further and need someone trained in this type of work
to help you.
I work in a private school, could you provide support
and training for us?
Yes, I work with a range of adults, children, schools and
other organisations. I can provide various support from consultations
with staff about individual children, group work with children,
detailed assessments as well as a variety of training tuned
to meet the needs of individual schools. In addition, the
whole range of counselling, coaching and mentoring, stress
management etc that I provide to the general public is also
available, either on a private basis or purchased by the school
as part of school support for staff.
I am a foster carer and am used to dealing with some
very difficult children, but would still like assistance to
help them improve their behaviour.
Many of the children who you will be asked to support have
a number of educational, as well as social / emotional difficulties
including behaviour difficulties, anxiety, attachment issues
and friendship difficulties. You are wise therefore to seek
support to build on the skills that you have already. The
social worker(s) for the child / children will be able to
provide you with a lot of help, but there may well be times
when further professional support is needed, for you, the
children and in some cases their biological families. Consult
the relevant social worker, before contacting me. I am able
to provide a range of services including help about behaviour
management and other social / emotional (emotional literacy)
needs, counselling for children and educational psychology
assessments, through to training for yourself, other carers
and social services.
I work in business and am aware of the need for training
to develop the skills of myself and the staff. Can you help?
Certainly, psychology is a key part of any business or organisation!
What is provided varies according to the needs and size of
the individual business. For instance, businesses and other
organisations are increasingly realising the benefits of training,
to increase profits and effectiveness, in a wide range of
emotional intelligence skills including interpersonal skills,
motivation, communication, stress management, emotional well-being
and team building. Coaching and mentoring is available for
all, including managers.
In addition staff are able to take advantage of the range
of professional services such as counselling for stress management,
anxiety, grief and loss, confidence building etc. This is
available either privately or via the business / organisation,
as part of its benefits and support for staff.
I am the manager of a business and arrange supervision
for my staff, but sometimes I would like to talk to someone
myself.
Help from a Business Advisor or the Chamber of Commerce (if
you are a member), can give some very good advice, particularly
if the issues are about financial or technical trade matters.
But there are many other important aspects of running a successful
business and you are right to think flexibly that there may
be other things that you want to develop. A confidential consultation
with myself gives you the opportunity to raise any pertinent
issues e.g. staff relationships, examining your own strengths
and roadblocks, self-development for your own benefit and
that of your business, emotional well-being and taking care
of yourself.
The school has told me that my child is in danger
of being excluded because of poor behaviour. Can you help?
Keep in close contact with the school. If you do not already
know, ask the school exactly what are their concerns and what
they have done about it. For instance, is your child receiving
special educational needs (SEN) support? This includes social/
emotional and behavioural needs, not just academic. If so,
is he / she registered at School Action, School Action Plus
or have a statement? A child in danger of exclusion should
also have a Pastoral Support Programme (PSP). Asking what
you can do to help will go down well.
There are local authority professionals such as educational
psychologists who the school can call upon, but if for some
reason they are not available soon, or the school does not
want to use them, I can certainly help. If you have concerns
about your child’s behaviour out of school, as well
as in school, you may want me to discuss with you ways of
improving his/ her behaviour. I often work with the child
/ young person themselves to help them change their behaviour
or it may help to assess their strengths and weaknesses as
any difficulties might be affecting their attitude and confidence
in school.
I keep hearing about synthetic phonics / phonemic
approaches to literacy but am not sure what they involve.
Synthetic phonics / phonemic approaches are thought to be
more effective than some traditional approaches to teaching
literacy via phonics. The Department for Education and Skills
(DfES) is recommending the use of synthetic phonics. During
literacy assessments I use synthetic phonics/ phonemics materials
to identify a child’s skills and any areas of weakness
to help advise the school how to help the child in the most
effective manner.
My child has been diagnosed with autism / Asperger’s
Syndrome, but I am still unsure how to help him / her.
Yes, this can be very difficult because of the way that these
children learn, think and behave. I am happy to meet you to
discuss not only how children with autism/ Asperger’s
Syndrome function generally, but more importantly how your
child can be best helped.
Stephen Bayliss - Chartered Psychologist
The
Centre
18 Prospect Road
Hythe
Kent CT21 5NH
Telephone: (01303)
253304
Email: mail@charteredpsychologist.co.uk
Latest additions to the site:
Business Coaching Services,
Hypnosis / Hypnotherapy Kent
Emotional
Intelligence / Literacy, Multiple
Intelligences
Psychology of Learning Theories,
Counselling Services,
Educational Psychology
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