Hayley Rajpal (my pronouns are her/she)

I am a fully qualified Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. This means that I am trained to use the relationship I build up with my clients and my observational skills to understand their difficulties, make sense of these and help the client to gain more of an insight into why they feel and behave the way they do.

Psychotherapy is built upon the notion that all individuals have a conscious and unconscious mind. Our unconscious mind is where we keep feelings and memories that are too painful to be addressed consciously. The main work in psychotherapy is the development of the relationship between the therapist and young person to encourage and build trust. This becomes an important tool for exploring and resolving difficulties and conflicts, which stem from and are buried in the unconscious mind, bringing them into consciousness. Over time this understanding can be internalised by the young person so that he or she can begin to understand their own feelings and behaviour. Left untreated children and young people may respond to people and situations in ways they cannot comprehend or control.

I work with children, adolescents and their families/carers and professionals.