Children & Young People's Counselling

At the Relationships Centre Leicestershire (formerly Relate Leicestershire), our Children & Young People's counsellors offer a safe, confidential space for children and young people aged 8-18 to talk about any challenges they may be facing and explore better ways of coping.

In 2025 we saw over 10,000 children and young people, mainly face to face, in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. 

Our counsellors can support young people with a range of difficulties that could include:

• Parental separation or divorce
• Difficulty adjusting to living in a new family
• Difficulties at school
• Anxiety
• Low mood
• Phobia
• Stress
• Self-esteem

Our young people's counsellors have all received specialist training and qualifications to work with children and young people. They will listen and support you in working out the best way forwards.

Information for parents/carers

Everything you say will remain confidential; this means it will stay private. However, there can be times that confidentiality may be broken if:

• You are going to harm yourself or someone else
• Someone is harming you or someone else you have told us about

Working with Partner Agencies

We are committed to working closely with schools, health services, social care and other specialist organisations to ensure young people receive safe, effective and coordinated support.

Where a young person is already receiving therapeutic support from another agency, we will carefully consider whether additional counselling through our service is appropriate. This is because multiple therapeutic interventions delivered at the same time can sometimes lead to duplication, overwhelm, conflicting approaches and reduced effectiveness of support.

In these circumstances, we will work collaboratively with the young person, their family and partner agencies to identify the most appropriate lead service and ensure that support is coordinated and in the young person's best interests.

What Happens At The First Meeting

You can expect to be helped by a supportive and non-judgemental counsellor, either at our centre and outposts, or within your school. They will start off by undertaking an initial meeting to make sure The Relationships Centre is a good fit for you. This is also a good time to ask any questions that you may have.  If counselling is the best way forward, you will begin with ongoing sessions that are usually once a week for around 45-50 minutes.

“Through my counselling at The Relationships Centre, I learnt lifelong skills in how to deal with social anxiety. I carry these skills in all my difficult situations and know a lot of new coping strategies.” 

“I enjoyed coming to counselling, I found it really helpful to learn how to manage my emotions and it was good having a trusted person to talk to.”

“I feel like I can express my emotions better without feeling scared. I find it easier to talk to people about my feelings now. This has helped me a lot to cope with my emotions and I feel happier.

CYP Clients