Mental Health Blogs & News from The Retreat Clinics across York, Manchester & online

Supporting Your Child Through Bullying: A Parent’s Guide Children can engage in bullying for various reasons, for example this behaviour may serve as their coping mechanism for dealing with difficult situations. Whilst this can sometime help a little in understanding the other child’s behaviour, it never justifies or make bullying acceptable. Dealing with bullying is […]

Top Tips for Managing Bonfire Night   For lots of families with children, Bonfire Night can bring anxiety and distress. Firework displays are noisy, unpredictable and, depending on where you live, can be relentless. This can be particularly tricky if you have a child who has a fear of fireworks, is neurodiverse, and/or has sensory […]

What are we commissioned to provide? The Autism and ADHD services at the Retreat clinics are currently resourced and commissioned to receive an estimated 720 referrals per year (60 per month) however due to an unprecedented increase in demand throughout 2022 and 2023 our referral rate increased considerably and on average we received 1840 referrals […]

Is your child struggling with the transition back to school? Nearly a month into the new school year, we have been hearing from many of you that some children and young people are starting to face challenges with returning to school, despite initially positive starts. Perhaps it’s a sudden reluctance to attend school, difficulty sleeping, […]

University College London, The Retreat Clinics and Tend VR are conducting a study exploring mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) delivered through virtual reality (VR). We are recruiting adults who have experienced recent anxiety or depressive symptoms to test this innovative approach over a 10-12-week period. If you would like to take part, we will be asking […]

September is childhood cancer awareness month and we are delighted to formally announce our collaboration with ‘The Joshua Tree’. The Joshua Tree (based in Cheshire) is a children’s cancer charity that is dedicated to working closely with families affected by childhood cancers. As a registered charity ourselves, The Retreat Clinics are pleased to be offering […]

How to support healthy mental health in children and teenagers When we think about being ‘healthy’, we jump straight to the thought of exercising, eating and sleeping well. However, making sure we have a healthy mental well-being is just as important. To celebrate Youth Mental Health day, we want to talk about different ways that […]

Online counselling and therapy are a modern approach to mental health support where  therapy and mental health services are provided remotely online.  The primary aim of online counselling is identical to traditional face-to-face therapy: to provide an outlet for individuals to explore their feelings, thoughts, and behaviours in a safe, confidential environment. The key difference […]

Group Therapy in York, Manchester & Online What is Group Therapy? Group psychotherapy is a longer-term therapy, beneficial for people with difficulties in their relationships, their self-confidence, or in communicating with others. It is beneficial for people with problems in their relationships, self-confidence, or communication with others; this may be in all areas of life, […]

Child psychologists, child therapists and counsellors play a crucial role in assessing, and helping children and young people with emotional health issues They are specifically trained to understand the unique challenges and experiences of children, employing various therapeutic techniques to promote healthier thought patterns and behaviours. Recognising and addressing mental health issues early on is […]

Anxiety is often more than just feeling stressed or worried. It is a common mental health disorder characterised by persistent and excessive worry, fear, or nervousness about different aspects of life. In the UK, anxiety difficulties are common, with a little over 1 in 10 of us experiencing an anxiety disorder (Mental Health UK). While […]

Today is International Self-Care Day! A day for people to reflect on whether you are giving yourself that extra bit of time and to consider ways that you can take care of yourself. When you think of ‘self-care’, what do you think of? Is it running yourself a bubble bath, having a pamper day or […]

Our Quaker led charity has provided mental health services for over 200 years. Our services are firmly based in our values of compassion, collaboration, and community building. We are passionate about helping people, giving hope, and building resilience. We’re aware that for many people it’s difficult to find the resources to fund therapy, especially now, […]

The loss of a child profoundly impacts the lives of parents and their loved ones.  When someone you care about has lost a child, it can be hard to know how best to support them. Each person’s grief experience is unique, and finding the right words can be hard.  Often, we worry about saying the […]

In today’s fast-paced world, maintaining a healthy and fulfilling relationship can be a challenge. The ups and downs of life, communication gaps, unresolved conflicts, and emotional distance can strain even the strongest bonds. However, there is a powerful solution available: couple therapy. In this blog, we explore the problems couple therapy addresses, the benefits it […]

Hot flushes and night sweats are two of the most common physical symptom of the menopause. Duvet on, duvet off, duvet on, duvet off is a common night-time experience for many. There may be times when you dress warmly to face the cold outside, then find your internal heating system goes into overdrive and you […]

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be misunderstood, it’s not always about been extremely clean or organized, there’s so much more to the disorder. Standing at the top of the stairs with tears streaming down my face and just wanting the cycle to stop, my body and mind were exhausted. When eventually in bed, my palms would […]

Separation anxiety is a form of anxiety difficulties that occurs when a child is separated from their parents or those close to them, resulting in feelings of distress and panic. It can be helpful for parents to be aware of the signs of separation anxiety in childhood, know how to recognise the symptoms, and learn […]

Around 20% of women will encounter a mental health issue of some kind either during pregnancy or following childbirth. Although ‘postnatal depression’ is a widely recognised phenomenon, anxiety in the postnatal period is also very common. Experience of pregnancy loss, a traumatic experience of giving birth, or a baby with health problems can increase the […]

For this year’s world day for Safety and Health at Work, The Retreat clinics are focusing on one of the biggest concerns for safety and health at work We all have to deal with stress, whether daily issues or a significant event that causes undue pressure. When consistently dealing with stress on a daily basis […]

How stress impacts our body, and 9 strategies to reduce stress. Stress is an unavoidable part of our everyday lives. While some amount of stress can be helpful, excessive and long-term exposure can damage our physical and mental health. In this blog post, we will explore the various ways stress impacts our body and some […]

“I view neurodiversity as being part of the variety of what it means to be human. I specifically use the word variety because I don’t think “difference” feels quite right, it could be interpreted as having a negative connotation. Whereas, I have always viewed variety as being a positive and good thing. Variety means lots […]

By Ronnie Pinder, Coach & Peer Mentor at The Retreat Clinics  There is a strategy that can help many autistic people and that is always planning your escape routes in advance and therefore making you feel in more control of a situation that may otherwise cause anxiety. Escape routes can be literal but they don’t […]

Diagnostic Assessments: We are now accepting private referrals for formal autism diagnostic assessments for children and young people. We appreciate waiting lists can be long and how difficult it can be to wait for diagnostic assessments. Our experienced team can help – we follow NICE guidelines to provide our assessment service and offer a multidisciplinary […]