Strengths & Needs Consultation

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The Strengths and Needs Consultation is a thorough exploration of your young person’s world—how they learn, how they feel, how they manage daily life, and how home and school interact for them. It is designed for families who are concerned about their child’s development, learning, or wellbeing but have not yet established what kind of support is needed, or where to begin.

It’s also suitable for families who have already gone through the diagnostic process but have been left wondering what to do with that information.

The consultation draws on validated screening instruments, a structured family interview, and direct engagement with your child. It includes a written interpretive report setting out a clear picture of strengths and needs, alongside prioritised recommendations and practical tools and personalised strategies created for your young person in their context.

£495

The Process

The Strengths & Needs Consultation takes place over three stages:

Stage 1 - Information Gathering: up to three hours in total, across two relaxed and friendly sessions at your home or The Cherry Tree Therapy Centre in Henley on Thames.

Stage 2 - Report: A write-up of our information gathering sessions, including strengths and areas of difficulty; interpretation of screening results in context; analysis of the home-school interface; tools and strategies; recommendations for next steps.

Stage 3 - Follow-up Session & Support: a 30 minute meeting to discuss the report and recommendations. This is followed by email or phone support for two weeks to help you start using the strategies we’ve discussed.

Strengths & Needs Consultation FAQ

  • No. Diagnosis requires a clinical assessment carried out by a qualified clinician with the authority to make that determination. This consultation does not do that, and does not claim to.

    What it does is give you a clear, professionally written account of your child's strengths and needs across home and school, alongside specific recommendations for what to do next. For some families, the report clarifies whether a formal diagnostic assessment is the right next step — and, if so, which one. For others, it fills the gap left by a diagnostic assessment that identified a condition but offered little in the way of practical, individualised guidance.

  • Six to twenty-five. Approaches are adapted to the young person's age and communication style throughout.

  • Possibly. A diagnosis identifies a condition; it does not always translate into a workable understanding of a particular child in a particular context. If the support in place is not helping, or if home and school seem to be describing two entirely different children, a Strengths and Needs Consultation can provide the joined-up picture that a diagnostic report alone does not give you.

  • The screening tools used are selected according to age, presentation and what comes up in our information gathering sessions. They may include tools such as the SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), SCAS (Spence Children's Anxiety Scale), SNAP-IV, and AQ-10. All are validated instruments, administered within the scope of my qualification and under the professional supervision of an HCPC and BPS-registered neuropsychologist.

  • £495

Still have questions? Get in touch to have a chat about whether the Strengths & Needs Consultation is right for your family.