Finding the right support for you and your family

Please note that most of our services can only be offered to families within the London area. This is because a number of face-to-face appointments may be necessary and often frequent travel to our Centre in Kings Cross makes it difficult to sustain the level of involvement needed to make the therapy useful.

We provide a range of different types of support for children, young people, parents and their families. These include:

• Adolescents with low mood or depression

• Adoptive children and families

• Children who have experienced potentially traumatic events; including domestic violence, abuse, neglect and traumatic bereavement

• Families in conflict following parental separation or divorce

• Looked after children and foster carers

• Mothers with babies under one

• New or expectant fathers

• Parents with toddlers

• Parents looking to better understand their child’s behaviour

While our Centre offers a wide range of support for families, we are not an NHS service. Sometimes local services such as CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) may be better suited to help you and your child.

The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families is a charity and reliant on grants, donations, and fees to provide the specialist work it undertakes. Most of our services are charged at an hourly rate, but this can differ from service to service. If you would like to know more about the hourly rate for a particular service, we suggest checking the different services available under Who we help, or completing a referral form.

If you feel that you, or someone you know, needs urgent help and may be at risk of harming themselves or others it is important that contact your GP, your local NHS walk-in-centre (England only), or your closest A&E department straight away. 

See also Crisis and Emergency information from NHS England, Mental Health emergency from NIDirect (Northern Ireland), Medical Emergencies on NHS 24 (Scotland) and Medical Emergencies on NHS Direct Wales.

If you would like to find out more please contact our main reception and ask to speak with our clinical support team or complete the online form below.

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7794 2313

Email: referrals@annafreud.org

To make a referral, please use this form.

The Parent and Carer section on the Anna Freud Centre website provides advice and guidance for parents and carers to help them support a child or young person experiencing poor mental health or wellbeing. It includes the Youth Wellbeing Directory, where you can find free mental health support local to you, and sections on Shared Decision Making, adoption and foster care, and how to reduce the impact of conflict between parents and carers on children.

We provide a range of different types of support for children, young people, parents and their families. These include:

• Low mood or depression

• Difficulty managing your thoughts, feelings or behaviour

• Distressing or traumatic events

• Experience of abuse and neglect

• Struggling with family or peer relationships

You don’t need to wait until you cannot cope before speaking to a professional. If our Centre cannot help you directly then we will do our best to point you in the direction of other help that is available to you.

If you feel that you, or someone you know, needs urgent help and may be at risk of harming themselves or others, it is important that you contact your GP, your local NHS walk-in-centre (England only), or your closest A&E department straight away. 

See also Crisis and Emergency information from NHS England, Mental Health emergency from NIDirect (Northern Ireland), Medical Emergencies on NHS 24 (Scotland) and Medical Emergencies on NHS Direct Wales.

We realise that there are things you might want to talk about that you might not want your parents to know. We respect this, and what you tell us stays private unless we become very concerned about your safety or the safety of others.

If you would like to find out more information or have a question, you can call our reception and ask to speak to our clinical support team who would be happy to talk to you.

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7443 2313

Email: referrals@annafreud.org.

Please use this form if you need support. 

On My Mind is a new section of the Anna Freud Centre website that aims to empower young people to make informed choices about their mental health and wellbeing.  It has been co-produced with young people to help other young people and includes the Youth Wellbeing Directory, where you can find free mental health support local to you, and sections on understanding referrals, working with services and self-care strategies.

You may wish to bring a family member, friend or advocate to your appointment with you. Advocacy services make sure that people have the support they need for their voices to be heard.

For more information on advocacy services or if you would like to bring someone with you to your appointment, please contact your administrator or call the switchboard on 020 7794 2313

Our advocacy leaflet provides more information about advocacy services: Advocacy Leaflet.

The Centre is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm. We do not offer out-of-hours or emergency services. If you require urgent assistance, please contact your GP or visit your local A&E department.

We really want to hear from the parents, children and young people who use our services. If you have any comments or suggestions about your experience of coming to the Centre we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch by emailing feedback@annafreud.org.

If you are unhappy with your experience and would like to make a complaint, please see our complaints leaflet for more information: Complaints leaflet.

If you would like this leaflet in a different language or format, please contact reception on 020 7794 2313 or email: info@annafreud.org.

Please include any additional requirements in your enquiry form. If you have any questions or need more information about our facilities, please contact your administrator or call the switchboard on 020 7794 2313.

Our clinicians and staff aim to provide you with the highest quality of care. To do this we need to keep records about you, your health and the services we have provided or plan to provide to you. We value your privacy and the security of your personal information.

Your clinician will discuss confidentiality with you in your first session. We understand how important confidentiality is and abide strictly to data protection laws that allow us to share information only with your knowledge and consent, or, in very rare instances where we are legally obliged to do so.

Read our leaflet to find out more information about how we manage your information.