Creative Counselling for Teens
Spaces where adolescents feel understood!
About Us
Supporting Teenagers and Young Adults in Schools and Community Settings
Young people can face many different pressures around school, friendships, family life, identity, confidence, and mental health. At Action4Families, we offer a warm, supportive, and creative approach that helps teenagers and young adults feel heard, understood, and able to express themselves in ways that feel comfortable for them.
We understand that this stage of life can feel overwhelming at times, especially when young people are dealing with anxiety, low mood, stress, social pressures, family difficulties, or struggles with confidence and self-esteem. Our approach is tailored to the needs of each individual and focuses on building trust, emotional safety, and stronger resilience.
Sessions can take place in schools or community settings, creating a safe and trusted space where young people can explore challenges, build confidence, improve emotional wellbeing, and develop healthier ways of coping with the pressures of everyday life.
Using creative, relational, and age-appropriate ways of working, we help young people better understand their feelings, strengthen communication, and develop more positive ways of managing difficult experiences. Sessions may include talking, creative activities, practical strategies, and reflective work, depending on the needs of each individual.
Counselling Student Placements
Action4Families offers counselling and creative therapy placements for trainee counsellors and therapists who want to develop confidence, experience, and professional skills within a supportive, ethical, and trauma-informed environment.
Placement opportunities may be available in schools, community settings, and online, depending on your stage of training and placement requirements. Students may have opportunities to work with teenagers, adults, families, and young people across a range of therapeutic settings.
Our teen creative counselling placements can provide valuable experience of working with adolescents experiencing anxiety, trauma, emotional regulation difficulties, low mood, bereavement, family challenges, school-related issues, and relationship difficulties. Placements are designed to help students build confidence in using creative, relational, and developmentally appropriate approaches with young people.
All placement students receive regular supervision, safeguarding support, reflective practice, and ongoing guidance to support safe, ethical, and competent practice. Students are carefully vetted and supported throughout their placement to ensure high standards of care for the young people and families we work with.
Action4Families placements are designed to help trainee therapists deepen their knowledge, strengthen their professional skills, and gain meaningful experience while making a positive difference in the lives of children, teenagers, adults, and families across Derbyshire and online.
Reconnect: From Isolation to Opportunity
We are currently developing Reconnect: From Isolation to Opportunity as a new project within Action4Families, in response to growing need across the region. In the East Midlands, around 14–15% of young people aged 16–24 are not in education, employment or training (NEET)—higher than the national average and rising in recent years. This reflects a wider regional challenge, where young people are facing increasing barriers linked to mental health, disengagement, and socioeconomic disadvantage. For many, being NEET is not simply about employment status, but about feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, and unsure how to move forward.
Through our work, we see first-hand how anxiety, low confidence, past experiences, and lack of accessible support can prevent young people from engaging with education or work. Without early, relational intervention, these challenges can deepen over time, leading to long-term exclusion and reduced life opportunities. Reconnect has been developed in direct response to these patterns, aiming to provide a pathway that feels realistic, supportive, and achievable.
Reconnect is being designed as a trauma-informed, relationship-based programme that brings together counselling and gentle, supported pathways back into education, training, or employment. The focus is on building confidence, improving emotional wellbeing, and helping young people develop a stronger sense of identity and direction. Rather than applying pressure, the programme supports individuals to take meaningful, manageable steps forward at their own pace, recognising that sustainable change happens through trust, consistency, and feeling understood.
Alongside therapeutic support, Reconnect will offer opportunities for gradual re-engagement, helping young people reconnect with their communities and explore future pathways in a way that feels safe and supported. This integrated approach ensures that emotional wellbeing and practical progression are addressed together, increasing the likelihood of long-term, positive outcomes.
We are currently seeking funding and developing corporate and community partnerships to bring this project to life. We are particularly interested in working with organisations who share our commitment to supporting young people, whether through financial investment, collaborative delivery, or providing opportunities such as mentoring, work experience, or pathways into employment. These partnerships are central to creating real, tangible change and ensuring that young people are not only supported emotionally but also given access to meaningful opportunities.
Through these partnerships, we aim to extend high-quality, accessible support to young people who are often underserved and facing complex emotional and practical barriers. By working together, we can create a joined-up approach that bridges the gap between mental health support and future opportunities—helping young people move from isolation towards connection, confidence, and a more hopeful future.
