Our Advice Centre is open today from 1:30 – 8:00pm
Therapeutic Services
Supporting your child with No Limits
Navigating your way through helping your child to be well, and to thrive, is a tough job.
Firstly, thank you for reading this page and know that, by doing so, you are not alone. You are now in a partnership of care with our Therapeutic Services team at No Limits. We want to help and support you to know how to best ensure your child has the skills to thrive both in and outside of any counselling or sessions we provide.
What we do in sessions
Our Therapeutic Team has many counsellors and youth wellbeing practitioners who will work alongside your child to best support their individual mental health needs. Our counsellors offer six sessions, and our youth wellbeing practitioners offer two to four sessions either in school or at a No Limits approved venue.
Weekly sessions last 45 minutes and might include activities like sand play, arts and crafts, card or board games or just talking to help express feelings, start conversations, explore experiences, and find ways they are comfortable opening up. Sometimes silence is also as effective in gaining trust and laying strong foundations to building a good therapeutic partnership.
Each counsellor or youth wellbeing practitioner will want the young person to practise the coping skills or strategies discussed in between each session; working towards thriving continues outside of the care offered by our counsellors and youth wellbeing practitioners.
Meet our team
Zile: Counsellor
I like singing but I don’t think I’m a good singer. I squeak more than I sing.
Charlie: Counsellor
Nick: Counsellor
I love golf, cooking and making people laugh.
Sally: Counsellor
I love animals and have a fluffy black and white cat.
Lindy: Counsellor
I enjoy watching superheroes movies and believe that everyone has a superpower. Mine is to listen. Let’s discover yours.
Iggy: Youth Wellbeing Practitioner
I love dogs, highland cows and finding creative ways to support children and young people with their emotions. Mental health is my passion.
“I’m really going to miss our chats. I feel like I can talk to you about anything and you can understand me. The toucan is called Gerald”
Activity with a young person choosing how they’re feeling.
An emotional scale made with a young person in a session.
What support can I give my child outside of counselling or sessions?
Knowing your child is receiving support can be a relief and reassuring, but it may also feel worrying, frustrating or scary that your child needs extra help. This is all normal. The weekly No Limits‘ support is a great springboard to help your child to begin to flourish, cope and thrive.
Therapeutic sessions do not promise to fix or solve problems, but rather to start the journey to great self-care, self-management, and self-love. Continuing the support at home, or outside of sessions, means that each young person receives wraparound care from everyone. At No Limits we want to help our young people be able to help themselves.
Tips to help you talk to your child about their mental health journey
Let them know that you are still there for them if, and when, they want to talk
When they speak to you ensure they have your attention, and you are listening with empathy. You cannot ‘fix’ everything. Walking and talking can be less demanding than a face-to-face conversation.
Explain what a visit to the counsellor or youth wellbeing practitioner looks like
Prepare them by watching our short videos on what to expect and look through this page together to discover what our mental health journey looks like.
Ask about how they are feeling, not what they talked about
Being a parent or carer is sometimes hard as young people may open up more to the counsellor or youth wellbeing practitioner because there is less emotional connection, and that is ok and healthy.
Help them try new coping strategies and be patient and supportive
These may be breathing techniques, writing a journal, or taking time out to reset by giving them time and space. Find out the strategies they might use and support them.
Be ready and open to finding resources/activities to work with them
If you are placed on a waiting list or have spare time, look at the resources section on this page and try them together. This provides connection and reassurance. Here are some resources to look at together:
Starting and continuing the conversation when your child is struggling
Recognising your child needs some extra support is tough and the ripple effect of this can affect many areas of home or social life. You may notice changes in behaviour, routines, or patterns of illness – all of which can be new and confusing.
The best thing to start a conversation is to find a safe space (this could be doing an activity the young person feels relaxed with) and just reassuring them. Using words like “I hear you”, “I am here with you” or “I am ready to listen when you are ready to talk to me” is sometimes enough to open the conversation. Daily check-ins, either verbally or via a smile chart on the fridge, keep the continuity and the door open for further conversations.
The charity Young Minds has some fantastic information on the following topics:
– The importance of talking to your child – Click here
– Activities you can do to support conversations with your child – Click here
– Conversation starters to support you – Click here
– What to do if your child doesn’t want to talk – Click here
– What to do if your child tells you they’re struggling – Click here
– Where to get further help – Click here
Building relationships with young people
It was amazing, the counsellor is so wonderful. She just came bursting out of this room with so much life. Sammy feels really comfortable with her, and really wants to do the counselling with her, it’s amazing really because he doesn’t take to or trust people, so I am really pleased with how it went.
You matter too – support for parents and carers
Walking side by side with your child when they are struggling to cope isn’t always a smooth journey. It’s just as important to seek support and help for yourself during this time. Remember that if you are responsible for other people then you first have the responsibility of taking care of yourself. Practicing healthy self-care does not mean selfishly disregarding the needs of your child and your family. It means doing what you need to do to take care of yourself so your help can be more effective.
Remember the oxygen mask principle – you must take care of yourself before you can do anything for anyone else.
There are many peer support groups and chatlines for parents and carers in the same situation as you. Reaching out and connecting with others to give you strength and perspective. You can connect to other parents and carers in the following ways:
– Young Minds – Parents guide to looking after yourself – Click here
– Parenting Mental Health – Online forums, Facebook and more – Click here
– Charlie Waller Parent Support Group – Click here
– Young Minds Parent Blog – Stories of help and support from parents and carers – Click here
– Young Minds parent/carer helpline and webchat – Click here
– Parenting Smart by Place to Be – advice on many topics for parents/carers of primary age children – Click here
You have selected an option that is best dealt with by our therapeutic support services. We will redirect you to the information page about these services, which gives details about getting in touch by phone.
You have selected an option that is best dealt with by our therapeutic support services. We will redirect you to the information page about these services, which gives details about getting in touch by phone.
We offer services to young people who live in Southampton, Hampshire, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. For information about similar services local to you, please visit Find help | Youth Access. Youth Access is the umbrella body for organisations like No Limits and you can search here for a local organisation that can help you.
We offer services to young people who live in Southampton, Hampshire, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. For information about similar services local to you, please visit Find help | Youth Access. Youth Access is the umbrella body for organisations like No Limits and you can search here for a local organisation that can help you.
We're sorry, but we cannot help the person you are referring as they are above our age range.
If you would like us to refer them to another organisation in Southampton who may be able to click continue to complete this form, we will then pass their details on.
We're sorry, but we can only help young people under the age of 26.
If you would like us to refer you to another organisation in Southampton who can help you click continue to complete this form, we will then pass your details on.
If the young person is not willing to talk to us, then we cannot take the referral. However you can contact us on 02380 224 224 if you would like to talk to a youth worker for advice.
Without this consent, we will not be able to respond to you and cannot continue.
Click go back and select yes to continue.
Without this consent, we will not be able to respond to you and cannot continue.
Without their consent, or a good reason for you to give us the parent/carer’s own personal information, we cannot let you give it to us. This form will be submitted with the young person’s information and support needs, but without the parent/carer’s information.
If the young person does not want to have their parent/carer involved in this referral, you will need to pick a different way for us to contact them