Child Psychotherapy Perth: What is Psychoanalytic Child Psychotherapy?

Tracy Christophi — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:01:18 +0000

Therapy for Children and Adolescents in Western Australia

Psychoanalytic child psychotherapy is a specialist, evidence-based therapy that helps children and adolescents understand and manage difficult emotions, behaviours, and relationships by exploring underlying emotional experiences in a safe, supportive setting.

At Child Psychotherapy Perth, we provide therapy for children in WA and adolescent psychotherapy in Perth, supporting young people and families with a wide range of emotional and behavioural challenges.

How Child Psychotherapy Works

Working with an experienced child therapist in Perth, psychoanalytic child psychotherapy focuses on understanding what lies beneath the surface of a child’s difficulties.

Children and young people often communicate distress through behaviour, rather than words. This approach helps to uncover the emotional meaning behind those behaviours.

Therapy is tailored to the individual child and may include:

Talking
Play
Drawing and creative expression

By working at the child’s pace, therapy provides a space where difficult feelings — such as anxiety, anger, sadness, or confusion — can be understood and gradually put into words.

How Therapy for Children in WA Supports Emotional Wellbeing

At Child Psychotherapy Perth children and adolescents are supported to:

Understand their emotions more clearly
Develop healthier ways of coping
Improve relationships with family and peers
Feel more settled, confident, and able to learn

The relationship with the therapist is central to this process. Over time, children begin to feel safer, more understood, and better able to manage overwhelming feelings.

Neuroscience research has evidenced that many emotional difficulties are held in unconscious areas of the mind (Schore, 2011) (Solms, 2020). Psychoanalytic child psychotherapy works in these deep unconscious levels of the mind. Through the medium of the relationship with the therapist new understanding develops, making sense of difficulties, enabling change, developing new ways of understanding and relating to the world.

What Can a Child Therapist in Perth Help With?

Psychoanalytic child psychotherapy can support a wide range of emotional and behavioural concerns, including:

Anxiety and excessive worry
Depression and low mood
Anger and aggression
Oppositional or challenging behaviour
Eating difficulties and disorders
Self-harm
Emotional dysregulation or overwhelming feelings
Difficulties related to neurodiversity
Problems with friendships and relationships
Trauma, abuse, and loss
Low self-esteem
School-related difficulties, including school refusal or bullying
Questions around identity, sexuality, or gender
Wetting or soiling
Emotional or behavioural concerns in very young children

Rather than focusing only on diagnosis, this approach aims to develop understanding and support long-term emotional wellbeing.

Evidence-Based Adolescent Psychotherapy in Perth

Psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapy has a growing and well-established evidence base, particularly for complex and long-standing emotional difficulties.

Learn more about the evidence:

https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk/evidence-effectiveness

It is also recognised in professional clinical guidelines used internationally:

https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk/resources-professionals/nice-guidelines

References

Schore. A 2011 The Right Brain Implicit Self: A Central Mechanism of the psychotherapy change process

Solms. M 2020 Neuroscientific Recommendations to Clinicans Praciticing Psychoanalysis

Why is my child doing this? Self-Harm in Children & Young People: A Guide for Parents & Carers: https://childpsychotherapyperth.com.au/2025/06/02/self-harm-in-children-young-people-a-guide-for-parents-carers/

Learn more about supporting children after trauma here: https://childpsychotherapyperth.com.au/2025/06/02/supporting-children-after-trauma/

Therapy for Children and Adolescents in Perth, WA

At Child Psychotherapy Perth, therapy is offered in a calm and supportive environment where children, adolescents, and families can feel understood.

Stirling, Western Australia

www.childpsychotherapyperth.com.au
tracy@childpsychotherapyperth.com.au

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a child therapist in Perth do?

Psychoanalytic child psychotherapists support children to make sense of feelings that can be overwhelming, or sometimes even out of control. Confused, frightened, hurt, angry or painful feelings can gradually be put into words rather than actions.

How can therapy help my child or teenager?

Therapy supports children to begin to understand themselves and express their emotions in a healthier way. Children often feel happier, less anxious, more able to learn, and experience improvements in relationships with friends and family.

What is psychoanalytic child psychotherapy?

It is a specialist, evidence-based therapy that explores underlying emotional experiences to support long-term emotional wellbeing and development.

What problems can therapy for children in WA help with?

Psychoanalytic child psychotherapists are trained to work with any childhood emotional or behavioural concern, including very young children. This approach is often sought when other therapies have not been able to help.

What happens in adolescent psychotherapy sessions?

Child Psychotherapists are trained to carefully observe what a child or young person is communicating about their feelings and experiences through talking, play, or creative activities, helping to find words to make sense of troubling emotions and behaviours.

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