Open Way: Teen Therapy & Parent Coaching

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Open Way: Teen Therapy & Parent Coaching

Supporting young people & parents navigating anxiety, EBSA & emotional overwhelm
✨ Teen & Young Adult Counselling
✨ Parent Coaching
✨ Wellbeing Workshops

12/08/2026

1. Sometimes it can look worse before it gets better.

Therapy for anxiety will, at some point, involve your teen getting more in touch with anxious thoughts and feelings and gradually facing the things anxiety has taught them to avoid.

That can mean their anxiety temporarily increases as they start taking brave steps.

It doesn’t necessarily mean therapy isn’t working. Sometimes it means they’re beginning to do the work that helps their world get bigger.

2. A good therapist isn’t trying to eliminate their anxiety.

My goal isn’t to teach your teen how to never feel anxious again.

It’s to help them build a different relationship with anxiety, where anxiety can show up without getting to call all the shots.

Because success isn’t “I don’t feel anxious anymore.”

It’s “I feel anxious AND I can still do the things that matter to me.”

3. Your involvement can make a huge difference.

Some of the most important therapeutic work happens outside the therapy room.

And parent involvement doesn’t necessarily mean sitting in on your teen’s sessions.

It might look like:

→ practising tools together at home
→ getting some parent coaching yourself
→ noticing your own relationship with anxiety
→ changing how you respond when your teen is anxious
→ learning when to support and when anxiety is asking you to rescue or accommodate

Your teen might spend one hour a week with their therapist.

They spend the other 167 hours in their real life. that’s where we want the work of therapy to start taking root.

And what if your teen isn’t ready to engage with therapy at all?

There is still so much you can do as a parent to help shift the cycle of anxiety, without forcing, convincing or waiting for them to be ready.

That’s exactly what my new parent guide ‘What To Do When Your Anxious Teen Won’t Accept Help’ is designed to help you with.

It will show you practical shifts you can start making at home to support your teen, even if they won’t step foot in a therapy room.

Comment GUIDE below and I’ll send you the details when it’s available. 🤍

10/08/2026

💬Comment GUIDE to join the wait list for the parent guide: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR ANXIOUS TEEN WON’T ACCEPT HELP

07/08/2026

When your teen won’t accept support, it can leave you feeling completely helpless.

You can see how much they’re struggling, but every suggestion of therapy, counselling or support is met with a “no.”

It can feel like you’re watching anxiety steal more and more of their life while you’re powerless to stop it.

But here’s the good news…

There are things you can do as a parent that can create meaningful shifts in your teen’s anxiety without them ever setting foot in a therapy room.

Don’t hear me wrong:
• Their anxiety isn’t your fault.
• Their feelings aren’t your responsibility to fix.

However…

The relationship you build with your teen, and the way you respond to their anxiety, can become one of the most powerful influences on their recovery when they aren’t ready to engage with support themselves.

It begins with:

✅ 1. Building relational safety
Anxiety thrives when teens feel judged, pressured or misunderstood. Feeling deeply seen, accepted and emotionally safe doesn’t make anxiety disappear overnight, but it creates the conditions for brave steps to become possible.

✅2. Changing your relationship with their anxiety
Many of us end up battling anxiety, rescuing from it, or organising family life around it. Learning to respond differently changes the whole pattern.

✅3. Making small shifts in how you respond when anxiety shows up
The tiny moments matter. The words you choose, how you respond to avoidance, and how you balance compassion with courage can either unintentionally strengthen anxiety or gently help your teen build confidence over time.

If your teen won’t engage with support, you are not out of options. There is so much that can still be done.

💚 I’m currently creating a parent guide called What to Do When Your Anxious Teen Won’t Accept Help—a practical, evidence-informed guide full of strategies you can start using straight away.

💬If you’d like to be the first to hear when it’s released (and receive an exclusive launch offer), comment GUIDE.

05/08/2026

If your teen won’t talk, won’t go to therapy, or shuts down every time you try to help, this guide is for you. You’ll learn the small shifts that help build safety, reduce anxiety’s grip, and gently open the door to change, without pushing your teen further away.
💬Comment GUIDE and I’ll make sure you’re the first to get it when it’s ready!

03/08/2026

Before any kind of reintegration or exposure work, these first two rungs of the ladder need to be in place.

Otherwise, it’s highly likely things won’t get off the ground.

RUNG ONE: BUILDING SAFETY

If your teen is burnt out, constantly on high alert or completely shut down, they’ve probably been feeling unsafe at school for a long time.

That doesn’t necessarily mean school is objectively unsafe. It means their nervous system has learnt that school feels like a threat.

This isn’t about blaming anyone. It’s about recognising that if a young person doesn’t feel safe, asking them to take brave steps will be incredibly difficult.

Safety is built through secure, supportive relationships.

A few places to start:

• How connected do you feel with your teen? Has your relationship become a battleground because every conversation is about school? If so, try taking school off the table for a while and focus on reconnecting instead. Connection isn’t a distraction from the work—it is part of the work.

• Does your teen have at least one trusted adult at school? Someone who consistently checks in and makes them feel seen even when they aren’t attending?

• Do they have at least one friendship where they feel accepted and safe? Help them stay connected, even if they’re not attending regularly.

⸻

RUNG TWO: UNDERSTANDING & ADJUSTMENTS

If we don’t understand what’s making school so difficult, reintegration simply sends your teen back into the same battle without any armour.

Get curious about what’s underneath the avoidance. Is it sensory overwhelm? Social anxiety? Bullying? Perfectionism? Autistic burnout? Learning needs?

Then work with the school to put reasonable adjustments in place that address those needs, not just to create a reintegration timetable.

And make sure everyone involved knows the plan and follows it consistently.

⸻

RUNG THREE: REINTEGRATION & EXPOSURE

This is where gradual exposure belongs.

Not as the starting point, but as the next step.

When safety has been strengthened and the right supports are in place, exposure becomes an opportunity to build confidence, not just survive.

30/07/2026

Is your anxious teen refusing therapy? Read this…

Summer can feel like a bit of a relief.

Maybe the daily battle to get your teen into school has paused. The constant negotiations, tears, and phone calls have eased… for now.

But underneath that relief, you might already be bracing yourself for September.

“What if we’re right back where we started?”

If your anxious teen won’t engage in therapy, you might feel completely powerless. Like everything rests on them deciding they’re ready for help.

But here’s what I want you to know:

You are not powerless.

There are things you can do that can help your teen begin opening their world up again, without forcing them, nagging them or waiting for them to be “ready.” And they can help without your teen ever setting foot in a therapy room.

Small changes in how you respond to anxiety can have a huge impact over time. They can help your teen build confidence, reduce anxiety’s grip, and stop letting fear call all the shots.

I know this because I don’t just work with anxious teens, I work with their parents too.

And I also know what it’s like from the inside.

I was the anxious teen.

Now, as a teen therapist and parent coach, I help families understand what’s keeping anxiety going and how to respond in ways that build courage, confidence and capacity, even when a teen isn’t ready to sit in a therapy room.

If you’re feeling exhausted, stuck, or unsure what to do next, I’d love to help.

Comment “SUPPORT” below, and I’ll get in touch to arrange a call so we can explore what’s going on and whether I’m the right person to support you and your family. ❤️

28/07/2026

I rarely rush in with reassurance.

(Yes, if they’ve watched a scary film, I’ll explain once why the villain isn’t hiding in their bedroom!)

But after that, I don’t keep trying to convince them there’s nothing to worry about.

Because every time we rush in to reassure, we can accidentally reinforce the message:

“You’re right. This is something to be afraid of.”

Instead, I want them to discover that they can feel scared… and cope anyway.

⸻

I let them see that I get nervous too.

I don’t want my boys to grow up believing confidence means never feeling anxious.

I want them to know that nerves are part of doing things that matter.

You can feel anxious…
Do it anyway…
And discover you’re bigger than your anxiety.

⸻

I encourage them to try before I step in.

When they ask me to do something because it feels hard, I’ll often say:

“You’ve got this. Give it a go, and if you still need me afterwards, I’ll help.”

Nine times out of ten they come running back saying,

“I did it!”

Every one of those moments is evidence that they’re capable of doing hard things.

And that’s where confidence grows.

⸻

I praise courage more than outcomes.

If they ask a new child to play…
Try a new sport…
Or put themselves out there and it doesn’t go how they hoped…

I don’t focus on the result.

I praise the bravery it took to try.

Because confidence doesn’t come from everything working out.

It comes from believing,

“I’m the kind of person who can handle it, even when it doesn’t.”

25/07/2026

One of the things I often see parents of anxious teens doing (and it makes complete sense) is treating every fear in the same way.

But the truth is… it’s not all the same.

Some fears are real threats. But some fears are things that are felt as threats.

And the way we respond can shift depending on which one it is.

🛑 Real threats need protection.

Things like bullying, abuse, unsafe relationships, genuine health concerns, or unmet SEND needs.

These aren’t moments to “push through” or build resilience by exposure. They’re moments where we step in, reduce risk, and help our teen feel safe.

⚠️ Perceived threats need support, not rescue.

Things like speaking up in class, getting something wrong, being judged, or feeling anxious.

These can feel very real to a teen. So it makes total sense that parents want to step in and take the pressure away.

But when we consistently remove these moments, it can unintentionally send the message: “Yes, that was dangerous.”

Instead, we can stay alongside them and validate their experience whilst also letting them know we believe in their ability to make it through.

“I can see this feels really scary. And I also believe 100% that you can do hard things.”

The goal isn’t to get rid of anxiety.

It’s to build confidence in noticing the difference between danger and discomfort.

A helpful question to come back to is:

Is my teen actually in danger… or does their brain just think they are?

How we respond helps them learn which is which.

24/07/2026

As teens often come to me with this question… is what I’m doing helping or making things worse? This is the question I pose to them in response in my therapy room- “is this moving them towards a bigger life? Or shrinking their world?”

There is no copy and paste answer to that question and it’s likely it will look different on different days. But what is the trajectory? And are we consistently moving towards reengagement with what matters to them?

Do you struggle with this dilemma as the parent of an anxious teen?

22/07/2026

As parents we’re playing the long game. Often we don’t see the fruit for a while. But when you do, it’s so worth it!

Address

Thornbury Baptist Church
Thornbury

Telephone

+447792971119

Website

http://www.open-way.co.uk/, https://trybloom.co.uk/book/openway

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