Salome Kohli

Availability from January 2023 for clients 11yrs-to-25yrs 

 Monday-Thursday (5.30pm-8.30pm)                                                     No sessions during school holidays

About me and my approach

I am a BACP Registered Integrative Children and Young person’s Counsellor who works with children and young people with many emotional and psychological difficulties. My approach is empathic, attuned, playful and sensitive. I provide a non-judgemental, safe and confidential space, where children and young people can freely express and explore their feelings and the issues that are troubling them.

As an Integrative Children and Young Persons Counsellor, Social Worker and Parent of 3 teenagers I have a lot of work experience with children and young people in primary schools, secondary schools and hospitals. I also have working experience in facilitating community projects and groupwork sessions for children and young people. In my role as school counsellor, I also have experience in facilitating training sessions for trainee student counsellors.

I currently work part time as a School Counsellor in a Secondary School in South London and have a Private Practice in Balham, London. I offer counselling to children and young people aged 5 to 25 years.

I work in an Integrative way. This means I use a number of different counselling approaches and therapeutic models to meet each child or young person’s individual needs. For children and young people who find it difficult to express themselves emotionally using verbal communication, I also offer a creative aspect to my therapy to enable them to reflect on and process their emotions and challenging experiences more deeply. I am skilled in using many different art medias in sessions such as creative arts, music, drama, dance & movement, bodywork, puppetry, poetry, clay, sand-tray, masks, imagery and play.

Through the counselling relationship and contained therapeutic space I use my skills to help children and young people make sense of what is going on in their minds, bodies, and lives – in a way that they can understand. I aim to help them to break down problems into manageable parts, so they can better understand and cope with them. I also help them to explore and learn tools, techniques, and methods that can better prepare him/her for any challenges, and adversities he/she faces – now and in the future.

My Qualifications and Professional Association

 Diploma in Child Counselling. The Institute For Arts in Therapy & Education, London

 Registered Member of BACP

 BACP Children, Young People and Families Member

 Certificate in Counselling Skills with Young People Using the Arts. The Institute For Arts in Therapy & Education, London

 BTEC in Advanced Counselling Skills and Theory. North East Surrey College of Technology

 Exploring Psychology in the 21st century: Foundation year for Degree in Psychology. The Open University, London

 BA Social Work Honours Degree. Nelson Mandela University, South Africa

Initial Telephone Consultation with Parent(s)/Carer or Client

I usually organise a free initial telephone consultation with parent(s)/carer (or client) to discuss your presenting issues and to get a sense of the world around the child/young person and their ongoing difficulties, developmental milestones and past history, including health issues and mental health risks I need to be aware of. I also explain how I work and answer any questions that you have. The initial consultation is also an opportunity for us both to decide if I was the right practitioner to work with your child/young person or you (young person self-referral).

After the initial consultation I would meet the young person for a first session. If we decide to move forwards, then a weekly session of 50 minutes will be allocated at the same time each week, usually in 6 weeks blocks followed by a review.

First Session with Child/Young Person

In the first session I will do an assessment where we will:

• Explore what issues the child/young person would like to bring to therapy

• Explore what the child/young person are expecting to get out of therapy

• Explain how I work and the limits of confidentiality

• Agree on a contract for how we will work together

• Answer any other questions the child/young may have