Press Association - Looking to speak to a child psychologist

I am a clinical psychologist and worked in a CAMHS (children and young people mental health service) for 4 years.
I specialise in complex trauma which is the impact of the first 18 years of life on people's mental and physical health. The ACE scale screens for a whole host of adverse life events including hostile parenting, threat, abuse, substance use by family etc. People scoring 4 or more on the scale have been shown to be more likely to have a whole host of difficulties including more likely to: suffer with: anxiety, depression, migraines, IBS, spine / neck / back problems, fibromyalgia etc. They are also more likely to consume more alcohol per week and to have a higher BMI. Happy to chat if you'd like more.

I'm a psychotherapist and counsellor, not a child psychologist, but I often see adult clients who themselves were brought up with hostile parenting. The results can be a lack of self-esteem, guilt, self-doubt, addictions, avoidance of relationships and even PTSD. I've worked with people into their fifties who haven't been able to get past their early hostile parenting, and it is noteworthy how long-ranging the impact can be.

Hostile parenting is an aggressive form of parenting that is adopted to support the child to meet parental expectations. The approach can help parents to feel a sense of authority or power over their children, supporting the perception that they are in control. However, the research illustrates the detrimental impact this can have for children and their development. Children develop their internal working models from their interactions with parents and the external world. This means their ability to think, reason and "speak to themselves" comes from what they hear from their caregivers. Therefore, critical, aggressive or dismissive parenting styles will encourage a child to develop the attitude that they are faulty, unworthy of love or incapable of getting things right.
Children are learning to navigate the world so it is a parent's role to help guide them to do so in a compassionate way. Boundaries are necessary to support a child's ability to feel safe as they develop their values