Anna Rootes

Anna Rootes - Psychotherapist

Key Experience:

• Anna has worked as an Art Psychotherapist in the NHS Psychological Services for the past 6 years, in both community and custodial settings. Working for CAMHS (Children and adolescent mental health services) she specialises in supporting children, young people and their families living with moderate to severe mental health difficulties.

• Anna has experience supporting young people struggling with anxiety, low mood, depression, anger, low self esteem, relationship challenges, academic pressure, school refusal, bereavement, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ( OCD) and Post traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD) and trauma.

• Anna has worked with young people wishing to address themes of identity, gender orientation and body image and supports individuals with special educational and neurological needs such as those on the Autistic Spectrum, with ADD and ADHD.

• In CAMHS Anna supported the specialist pathway that supported Looked After and Adopted children and offered therapy and support to the young people, the carers and their networks to help make sense of their developmental and attachment experience and difficulties.

• Anna has additional training in Compassion Focused Therapy and In Mindfulness Therapy and integrates these concepts to meet the needs of those she supports.

Anna Rootes's Special Interests:

• Anna is passionate about the power and role of creativity in its ability to heal. Art therapy can be particularly useful when it may be difficult to access painful feelings or when words are too hard to find.

• Anna’s approach is creative, using art materials with psychodynamic thinking to explore feelings that can often relate to the past as well as on-going experiences that may have not been resolved or that continue to cause upset.

• Anna is fascinated by art and play’s ability to help us name, understand and then talk about how we feel when those emotions seem too difficult or overwhelming. This approach is not about being good at art but is about trying to understand how we may be feeling and helps us express and work through our difficulties.

• Anna aims to be alongside you on your particular journey. There to talk with you, to listen to you, to hear you, to bear witness, to sit silently with you or to laugh and to play with you as you navigate life’s deeper and sometimes more difficult moments. Discovering together what is needed to help you feel more yourself.