The Anchor-Practice Logo - Mental Health Clinic Edinburgh

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If you feel you or your family could be helped by talking through a mental health issue, or you feel that psychotherapeutic input might be right for you, then please do get in touch.


Our clinicians are available to talk through your concerns over the phone and can advise as to whether therapeutic help might be beneficial. We offer appointments throughout the day and run evening clinics throughout the week, including Saturdays. We are also able to offer sessions via Zoom where we feel this is clinically appropriate.

Prefer to phone us first? Call us on 0131 5579894

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Services

For adolescents

Adolescent psychotherapy

Adolescence is a particularly challenging time both for young people and the parents and carers supporting them. The new challenges of independence, the increased interest in peer relationships, the pressures of school and exams, combined with the physical changes of puberty often leave adolescents feeling overwhelmed, which in turn leaves parents and carers having to completely rethink the ways in which they support their children.

At The Anchor Practice we offer psychotherapy for adolescents in connection with a wide range of difficulties, as well as psychological and developmentally informed advice and support for parents seeking to understand and promote the mental health of their adolescent.


Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is used to help with the following difficulties:
  • Low mood and depression
  • Anxiety
  • Social difficulties
  • Anger management difficulties
  • Relationship problems
  • Issues with gender and sexuality
  • Problems with self-esteem, including difficulties connected to social media usage
  • Difficulties with school and stress
  • Concerning gaming/internet/technology use
  • Emotional volatility and relationship breakdown
  • Feeling lost or without direction

Psychotherapy with adolescents is conducted in much the same way as it would be for adults – a young person will be offered time and space to bring whatever difficulties come to their mind in the session, and we will try to get a grasp on what is maintaining these difficulties. By understanding them more thoroughly, we can help to relieve the distress caused.

At The Anchor Practice we understand that repetitive patterns of behaviour and emotions often have their roots in childhood and early experiences and relationships. In trying to understand these thoughts and feelings that are often outside of a young person’s awareness, adolescents can gain insight into their motivations and behaviour. In so doing, a young person can feel relieved of troubling symptoms.

If you are considering psychotherapy for an adolescent, you may wish to get in touch to discuss the current situation before arranging an initial appointment. Following this conversation, and depending on the age of the young person, you will be offered an initial meeting for both you and your child, or with the young person alone. Our approach would be to then offer three sessions in which we explore whether this kind of help could be useful, and from there, decide whether further treatment was indicated.

Note that we also provide a separate service for the parents of adolescents whose child is reluctant to attend sessions. This is an evidence-based approach that is designed to support parents through the specific difficulties of their child’s adolescence.