ZB Therapy

24/03/2026

Hello I'm Zoe 👋

I'm a qualified and experienced children and young people's therapist in Werrington, Peterborough. I provide emotional wellbeing and mental health support for ages 5-25 and their families.

I run a small, private therapy practice from my welcoming and comfortable garden room at home. I offer professional, personalised support to help children and teens who are struggling with a range of needs including anxiety, anger, bereavement, low mood, family and relationship issues, parental conflict and separation, trauma and SEND needs.

As a parent myself I know how important it is to find the right help and for children to feel safe, I understand that coming to therapy for the first time can feel scary. I'm warm, kind and focus on creating safety and trust with my clients. Sessions are non pressured and we work at the child's pace, in ways that support them and their needs.

I currently have daytime spaces avaliable for new clients and offer a free, no obligation initial phonecall to parents where we can talk through your concerns and see if I'm the right fit for your child or teen.

I use talking therapy, play and creative approaches in therapy to help children and young people express and work through issues and develop coping skills. I offer short and long term support and daytime sessions during school hours, in school sessions are considered depending on location and availability.

I'm BACP registered, post graduate qualified, with over 17 years experience working with children, young people and families in schools, mental health and charity sectors.

Website www.zbtherapy.net

13/03/2026

A popular toy in the therapy room is this doorbell house. I love that this once belonged to my own children, and is now used for the children I work with. 😊

The lockable doors and doorbells on this house are fun and provide opportunity for conversation, child-led play and imagination.

Play is a child's first language and when used in therapy it offers an indirect, gentle way of helping children to manage complex thoughts and feelings and work issues through in ways that support the child's needs and stage of development.

12/03/2026

Parents are facing a world that didn’t exist when we were growing up.

Smartphones have arrived in childhood long before many young brains are ready for the pressures that come with them. Constant notifications, social comparison, late-night scrolling, and exposure to content that developing minds may struggle to process.

Research is beginning to show what many families are already noticing at home.

Children who receive smartphones at a younger age are more likely to experience disrupted sleep, increased sedentary time, and rising levels of low mood or anxiety. When sleep is affected, everything else becomes harder — focus, emotional regulation, and overall wellbeing.

This doesn’t mean parents who have already given their child a phone have done something “wrong”. Many families feel enormous social pressure because everyone else seems to have one. Children worry about being left out, and parents often feel caught in the middle.

But conversations about timing, boundaries, and healthy digital habits matter.

The goal isn’t to create fear around technology. It’s to help young people develop a relationship with it that supports their wellbeing rather than overwhelms it.

Sometimes the most protective thing we can do is simply slow things down.

12/03/2026

Having access to play and creative resources in therapy sessions can really help to build confidence, encourage problem solving, develop independence, support expression and communication.

For children who lack confidence, struggle with anxiety or have trouble expressing or verbalising their wants and needs, creative and child-led play therapy can have huge benefits on a child's social, behavioural and emotional development.

Just think how often your child gets to be in charge in adult/child relationships, to make their own decisions and tell adults what to do and how to do it. As adults we naturally place demands on children with rules and expectations, and whilst this is important for keeping them safe and helping them to grow and develop, it can also cause power struggles and undesirable behaviour at times, especially when children feel they have no control.

In child-led sessions children are given freedom to practice, make mistakes and grow in a safe, boundaried way.

11/03/2026

Private mental health and wellbeing support for ages 5-25.

Support for a range of needs including anxiety, anger, bereavement, loss and grief, trauma, school related issues, family and relationship issues.

Daytime sessions available in Werrington, Peterborough.

Visit my website zbtherapy.net or DM with any questions.

11/03/2026

11/03/2026

10/03/2026

Creative therapy offers a child friendly way for children to express how they feel when words alone are difficult. People might assume that therapy involves direct conversation and sometimes it does, but with children it's about attuning to them and finding ways to help them naturally express and communicate their thoughts and feelings which is often through play.

Child therapy shouldn't feel pressured and my priority is to offer a space where children feel comfortable and safe. Letting a child lead the activity and choose the resources they want to use in session can be really empowering for a child, especially those who may lack confidence.

09/03/2026

For some children talking about feelings and working through difficult experiences can be hard. Some might not have the words to express how they feel, or may not feel comfortable at sharing their inner thoughts or worries with an adult, especially in the early stage of therapy.

Creative therapy provides gentle distance for a child, a way to feel connected but safe in the therapeutic relationship and it fits more closely with how children think, learn and process. Therapy isn't just talking, sometimes it's messy and fun too 😊

07/03/2026

Some lessons stay with a child for a lifetime.

When a child is smacked, the message isn’t just about behaviour. It’s about power, safety, and what love is supposed to feel like.

Children don’t learn emotional regulation from fear. They don’t learn empathy from pain. What they often learn instead is that the people who are meant to protect them can also hurt them.

Most parents don’t choose smacking because they want to harm their child. They choose it because they are overwhelmed, exhausted, or repeating what they themselves experienced growing up.

But parenting has evolved. Neuroscience has taught us more about how children’s brains develop, how behaviour is driven by emotion and regulation, and why connection changes behaviour far more effectively than fear ever could.

We can teach boundaries without humiliation. We can guide behaviour without violence. And we can raise children who understand respect because they experienced it first.

We really can do better.

To SAVE, click on the image, tap the three dots, and choose Save.

06/03/2026

Girls get angry too, but when they do what's the response? Dramatic, over sensitive, rude, badly behaved, disobedient?

At home, anger in girls might look like raised voices, shouting, withdrawal, crying, rudeness, slamming doors and sometimes physical outbursts. It might end in tears, overwhelm and remorse, perhaps with a lot of apologising.

Anger is a normal human emotion, often mixed in with other feelings. It might be an expression of frustration, overwhelm, academic struggles, social pressures, injustice, feeling unheard, misunderstood, feeling disconnected, left out or due to other needs like Neurodivergence. It's complex and sometimes it's messy, often with a lot of guilt and shame attached.

Anger is not an emotion girls always feel comfortable sharing outside the home. It might be hidden or masked in places such as school, because girls might feel scared about being told off, getting into trouble or being noticed in the wrong way. In school girls might be noticed as sweet, quiet, well behaved, but at home they explode which can be unexpected and hard to manage.

Girls who don't openly express anger, or aren't supported to work feelings through in healthy ways might be struggling inside, but unable to explain why. As parents we might see perfectionism, stress, high levels of anxiety, people pleasing, low mood, self harm and shut down and it can feel like you're walking on egg shells. Girls who feel misunderstood might learn to suppress their anger and develop unhealthy coping techniques which can be hard to break.

Anger isn't just bad behaviour, it's often a sign that a child is struggling and needs some compassion, reassurance and support 🫂