A clinical psychologist has undertaken a minimum of seven years training.  This includes a first degree in psychology, at least two years working in mental health related settings and a three-year doctorate in clinical psychology.   Clinical psychologists deal with a wide range of mental and physical health problems including addiction, anxiety, depression, learning difficulties and relationship issues.  During their doctoral training psychologists work with individuals across the life-span (i.e. children, adults and older adults), but most will choose a specialist area of work during their career (e.g. child and adolescent mental health).

A clinical psychologist uses a variety of methods (e.g. psychometric tests, interviews and direct observations) to understand why a problem has developed and why efforts so far haven't managed to resolve it.  They then refer to the evidence base to plan an intervention that aims to resolve the problem.  Psychologists are trained in a range of therapeutic models and often draw on multiple approaches in their work with an individual.

Psychologists are different from psychiatrists.  Psychiatrists first obtain a medical degree before going on to study psychiatry. They specialize in mental illness and can use prescribed medicines to manage and prevent mental illness.

A doctor who works in psychiatry is called a psychiatrist. Unlike other mental health professionals they must have first trained as a medical doctor and then specialised in psychiatry.   As a doctor they can prescribe drugs and medications as well as other forms of treatment.

An educational psychologist has undertaken a minimum of seven years of training. This includes a first degree in psychology, at least two years’ experience in educationally-relevant settings and postgraduate training in educational psychology.

As part of their post graduate training educational psychologists’ study normal child development, the psychology of teaching and learning, including the psychological aspects of teaching young people with special educational needs. They study how groups function, how people in organisations communicate and maintain relationships. They also learn about assessment, problem solving, training and research methods.

Educational psychologists work with children and young people between the ages of 0-19 years of age. They work closely with teachers, parents and other involved professionals in education, health and social care settings.

Conatus clinical staff are all well-experienced in assessing and treating most emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties presented in young people. We look to match referral information with the clinician who we believe will be the best fit to help.

Some families come to us with a preference for a named clinician, often because of personal recommendation by other parents, however our Clinical Director Dr Alastair Barnett or other senior members of the team will go through your initial enquiry documentation and suggest the most appropriate, and available, clinician.

At the first appointment, we like to meet with the parent/parents and the child concerned. 

However, if there is a particular person you think may have a helpful view about what’s going on, such as a grandparent, older sibling, let us know and they can come along as well.

Most likely your appointments will take place via Microsoft Teams, ZOOM  and offered Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm, or at similar times at our consulting rooms in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.  However sometimes we see our clients  in their homes, school or another nominated venue.

Yes of course, although we fully follow social distancing and government guidelines here at clinic, clients are choosing the comfort of their own home to communicate with their psychologist or therapist.

This is particularly helpful if you or your child are at all anxious about coming into the practice, for whatever reasons.

If you can give us over 24 hours’ notice there is no charge, less than that and we may take the option of payment in full. Please let us know though if you cannot make an appointment – communication is crucial about cancellations.

Sometimes, as long as no following appointments are going to be affected, we will do our best to accommodate the full appointment time. However, this is not always possible and late arrival may lead to your appointment being shorter.

No, you are free to leave therapy at any time and we do not ask you to sign a contract.

We do offer a service to AVIVA , WPA, CIGNA health insurers.

We offer a full service which must be paid by you , our client. You can then claim reimbursement from your provider.

We do not bill the health provider directly.

Please ensure that the admin team have all the information concerning your health insurance policy these have to be agreed before the 1^st appointment, as we are unable to change once therapy has commenced.

Unfortunately, we no longer work with:
BUPA, AXA, SIMPLY HEALTH, Active+ (or any other derivatives/brands of AXA/PPP).

As an ethical organisation we follow best practices and one of these would be to inform your child’s GP that we are treating one of their patients, especially if they have been involved in the referral. However we are happy to offer a fully confidential service to our families and should you chose not to inform your GP or other organisations (school) of our involvement we ask you sign the consent form and let your psychologist know at the first meeting.

Conatus does not consider confidentiality with issues of safeguarding (for our safe guarding policy please go to About Us/Policies.

Yes. However other professionals may become involved, such as a speech and language therapist, but only with your agreement and overall case management will stay with your attending psychologist.

First appointments usually last about 90 minutes.  Having already filled in some questionnaires your Clinical Psychologist will listen to everyone’s views about the presenting problems and discuss concerns, experiences and issues; a family history and any other relevant information will be taken enabling the group to come to a shared understanding as to how things have come to be as they are.

If all agree that intervention is needed, following that appointment the Psychologist will draw up a personalised treatment plan which will describe the desired outcomes and how we will work together to obtain these goals. This is reviewed at each appointment.

They last approximately 55 -65 minutes.

This greatly depends on the difficulties being experienced and the assessment findings. Our psychologists broad knowledge and experience will indicate the most effective and efficient approach to work together to achieve change.

Following assessment we will outline the options for ways to work towards the desired changes.  We aim to work in partnership with families, arriving at a plan for change which is acceptable to all.

This greatly depends on the complexity and nature of the problem. We pledge that Conatus clinicians will only see a child/family if there is clinical need and engagement.

The national average number of appointments within NHS child psychology services is around 8 appointments, and in our experience key issues can be addressed to major benefit between 4 – 12 appointments.  

At Conatus Child Psychology we do not believe in waiting.  We understand how our clients say that they feel a sense of relief, direction and feel far more positive after the first session - so why wait?

We aim to see new clients within 10 days of their request, or 10 days following private health insurance authorisation.  Availability in Kenilworth or via Microsift Teams is from 9:00-17:00 Monday to Friday.

Our rate for all work undertaken is £160 per hour.  This will include on and off-site work and any work accepted outside of the appointment e.g. meetings, letter writing, Telephone calls over 10 mins long.  This will be agreed with you before commencement.

Either ask your GP, Health Professional or Specialist Consultant (e.g. Psychiatrist) to make a written referral on your behalf, or to make a self-referral just call our clinic on 01926 678085 our staff are helpful and friendly and will help you through the procedure.

We will carry on seeing the young person, until the appropriate conclusion of their treatment. Some of our clients are young adults in their early twenties, if they are comfortable to attend clinic we are more than happy to help.

Many of our young adult clients gain support for life changes they are experiencing; such as attending university, leaving home etc.  We can also help with assessing educational needs, which may inform an application for a specialist student grant.

We hold a full set of notes on our protected data source, until the year of their 25^th birthday, following this we destroy all information.