We understand. Therapy is familiar. Behavioural Health Coaching is a mouthful, we know.
The approach is established internationally, including in the United States, Canada, Australia and Singapore. Here in the UK, the NHS also uses health and wellbeing coaches to support people with mental health difficulties. It may be unfamiliar, but it isn’t new.
We chose to build Synapse around Behavioural Health Coaching because it brings together what we wanted for our own children: someone they would connect with, who could offer emotional support and help them build the knowledge and skills to manage everyday life.
We see young people engage who have refused or bailed on other support, and begin managing things they had stopped being able to do.
Therapy may well be right for your child. We can help you consider the options. Behavioural Health Coaching also works alongside therapy, helping young people put what they learn into practice in everyday life.
As parents, we’ve been there. We also waited, hoping things would improve. They didn’t. When we finally acted, we couldn’t find the right support. And suddenly we were in a crisis.
We wanted an accessible, preventative intervention that could stop the rot, then equip our children with the knowledge, skills and tools to handle life’s challenges. That experience led us to build Synapse.
In the families we see, waiting has not worked. Difficulties have deepened while families hoped they would pass.
We know deciding to step in is difficult. In our experience, acting makes a difference.
A first conversation with Mollie, who looks after every family that comes to us, will help you establish whether your child’s difficulties need attention and whether now is the right time for support. If she thinks it’s too early, she’ll say so.
This is the biggest single issue we hear from parents, and we’ve faced it ourselves. Accepting that something is wrong and they need help is the last thing a young person wants to do.
We expect reservations. Our process is designed around them.
We don’t expect you to sell the idea of a Behavioural Coach to your child alone. Mollie helps you introduce the idea, and we can talk to your child ourselves.
We carefully match them with a Behavioural Coach they can relate to. They meet to decide whether to work together.
Once your child realises their Behavioural Coach is on their side, won’t judge them and understands through relatable lived experience, those barriers begin to fall away.
Turning reservation into participation is what Synapse is built to do.
If your child is refusing help right now, our guide on what to do when your child refuses help may be useful.
Most aren’t, although some are qualified therapists. We didn’t want a clinical process for our children, but we did want clinical structure. We wanted human connection backed by expertise we could trust.
Our Behavioural Coaches bring relatable lived experience and are trained to provide emotional support and practical guidance. Our clinical team assesses each young person and supervises the work throughout. The relationship is personal. The support behind it is structured.
Empathy and expertise, working together.
Maybe not immediately. Progress can be uneven, and some weeks more will happen than others.
But Behavioural Health Coaching is a structured process designed to drive change: goal-based, action-oriented and accountability-driven. Your child agrees what they want to work towards and the steps they’ll take. Their Behavioural Health Coach follows up, challenges them and helps them work through what gets in the way.
The relationship gets them involved. The structure helps them turn that involvement into change.
See how coaching works and read stories from young people we’ve worked with.
Tell Mollie what’s happening with your child, including anything that makes you hesitant about Synapse. She’ll listen, answer your questions and tell you honestly whether we can help.
The first conversation is at no charge, with no commitment.
