For Young People
Welcome to The Roots – your new wellbeing service in Waltham Forest. We are from Groundwork London. Waltham Forest commissioned us to deliver free support services for children, young people and families in your area. These sessions can be either face to face or online.
If you choose to access support from The Roots, you can expect a warm and supportive welcome. We are here to empower you and your family to thrive.
Who are we?
We are a team of therapists and practitioners – trained to deliver different types of therapy to support you. We understand the challenges that can come with having fears and worries, or from low mood. We know that our family relationships can be an important part of our wellbeing. We aim to empower you and support you on your journey to better wellbeing.
How can we help?
We have a range of services that might support your journey to better wellbeing. To start our support together, we will have a one-to-one meeting with you to find out the best way to support you. In this meeting, you can ask us any questions you have about the service and about the types of support that are available. You can also tell us anything you would like to focus on in our time of supporting you. This information will help us to understand how we can best support you and your family. If you want to, you can come to this meeting with a parent or family member if you feel that they can support you in starting your journey with us.
We are led by you. That means, you can tell us what you think will be most helpful for you. We will do our best to be guided by your needs and goals for our work together.
What is therapy?
Some of us may not know what to expect from therapy, or have ideas about therapy based on TV shows, movies, or what others have said. Some of these ideas might not be correct.
Therapy is a space where anyone can have a confidential space to talk freely and feel supported by a trained therapist. There are many reasons that a person might have therapy. Some people want therapy to help them work towards a goal, to change something in their life, or to get help with difficult feelings and thoughts. The focus of therapy is not guided by the therapist. It’s always guided by the person who is getting support.
Therapy is a space where anyone can have a confidential space to talk freely and feel supported by a trained therapist. There are many reasons that a person might have therapy. Some people want therapy to help them work towards a goal, to change something in their life, or to get help with difficult feelings and thoughts. The focus of therapy is not guided by the therapist. It’s always guided by the person who is getting support.
Therapy is not a place where you will be forced to talk about things that you don’t want to talk about. We might ask you to share what you can about the challenges and difficulties that brought you to therapy, but it is your right to set boundaries and decide what you feel comfortable sharing. We always respect your choices and what you want to keep private. We move at a pace that feels right for you, so that you can make the most of our time supporting you.
Therapy is not a place where you will be forced to talk about things that you don’t want to talk about. We might ask you to share what you can about the challenges and difficulties that brought you to therapy, but it is your right to set boundaries and decide what you feel comfortable sharing. We always respect your choices and what you want to keep private. We move at a pace that feels right for you, so that you can make the most of our time supporting you.
Our Services
Individual Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It is a practical type of talking therapy that uses problem-solving to find solutions together. It’s especially good for helping us understand fears and worries, and manage them, to be able to reach our goals and do the thing we want to do. In CBT, we set personalized goals together, so that we can notice if things are getting better.
CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings and behaviour are all connected. When we use CBT to manage fears and worries, we spend some time to think about how our unique and individual thoughts, feelings and behaviour interact.
CBT is also focused on helping us gain new skills and that builds our confidence over time. We share ideas to see what might work for each unique person. Some of these ideas will be to try real-world experiments that can be tested out in between sessions. When we meet in sessions, we’ll talk about how it felt to do the experiment, what we noticed and whether or not it was a useful experiment.
With CBT, we work at a pace that’s right for each person, and you’re always welcome to let us know if something doesn’t feel right for you.
CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It is a practical type of talking therapy that uses problem-solving to find solutions together. It’s especially good for helping us understand fears and worries, and manage them, to be able to reach our goals and do the thing we want to do. In CBT, we set personalized goals together, so that we can notice if things are getting better.
CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings and behaviour are all connected. When we use CBT to manage fears and worries, we spend some time to think about how our unique and individual thoughts, feelings and behaviour interact.
CBT is also focused on helping us gain new skills and that builds our confidence over time. We share ideas to see what might work for each unique person. Some of these ideas will be to try real-world experiments that can be tested out in between sessions. When we meet in sessions, we’ll talk about how it felt to do the experiment, what we noticed and whether or not it was a useful experiment.
Family Therapy
For some families, getting support altogether is the best way to work towards goals and manage challenges. Difficult emotions and experiences can affect everyone in the family, and sometimes these difficulties are connected to our relationships. We can work together over 8 sessions with the whole family to set goals, problem-solve and create helpful strategies. To help our discussions, we can use games, art and any other creative ways to share our ideas and experiences.
The aim of Family Therapy is always set by the family but each person in a family might have their own different goal for the therapy. We take time to hear everyone’s opinions and experiences so that the space is helpful for everyone in the room. Your Systemic Family Practitioner will guide discussions to focus on strengths and solutions, not using blame or judgement, to help everyone make the most of the confidential space to share their unique perspective and ideas.
What to expect from family therapy
Family Therapy can feel like a new experience. It can feel unusual to discuss ideas together and talk about things that you might not usually talk about at home. We will never make you share anything that you would rather keep private. But you can use this space to ask questions of your family members, tell stories or come up with ideas together.
Family Therapy can feel like a new experience. It can feel unusual to discuss ideas together and talk about things that you might not usually talk about at home. We will never make you share anything that you would rather keep private. But you can use this space to ask questions of your family members, tell stories or come up with ideas together.
Family Therapy can be a helpful space to create changes in a family. Think about what you might like to do differently or change within your family. We can talk about your ideas for changes together.
Family Therapy can feel like a new experience. It can feel unusual to discuss ideas together and talk about things that you might not usually talk about at home. We will never make you share anything that you would rather keep private. But you can use this space to ask questions of your family members, tell stories or come up with ideas together.
When families come together for support, there may be questions, ideas or experiences you hear that surprise you. Family members might disagree about what is most important or what needs to change. That’s okay. Being open to hearing different ideas and perspectives from others in our family is part of what makes Family Therapy so useful.
When families come together for support, there may be questions, ideas or experiences you hear that surprise you. Family members might disagree about what is most important or what needs to change. That’s okay. Being open to hearing different ideas and perspectives from others in our family is part of what makes Family Therapy so useful.
What do young people say about us?
“I feel like this therapy made me feel better as a person. And I was able to get closer with my mum because of this therapy.”
“Definitely no criticism whatsoever. If anything I’d like more sessions. I actually cried at the last session as I’ve valued the sessions so much.”