Information for young people
When you come to the MPC we want you to feel that it is your session and that you are making the decisions about what happens. If you are interested in therapy your MPC therapist will talk with you about options however the decision about what you do or don’t do will be yours.
Your assessment is funded by the Stuttering Foundation. It will not cost you anything however its actual cost is £1,000. Missed appointments are costly for us. Please help us minimise missed appointments be reading the following and calling us or talking to your local speech and language therapist if you have any questions.
Getting your appointment
You will receive your appointment letter and some questionnaires to fill in. Please complete these and send them back to us before you come in for your appointment. If it’s hard to fill them in you can bring them with you to your appointment and your therapist will help you.
The waiting time for an appointment is approximately 2 to 3months if you are local or 6 months if you are eslewhere. Please email [email protected] or call 020 3316 8100 if you need to see someone urgently (i.e. if you feel that you are really not coping or you do not feel safe).
Depending on where you live, and also how old you are, you will receive either one or two appointments.
I live in Camden or Islington
If you are not yet 16 you will get 2 appointments, about a week apart. The first is for you to attend and the second is for parents to attend.
If you are over 16 you will choose whether or not you would like your parent or parents to see a therapist here. If you do they will have their own session about a week after yours. We recommend that parents are involved.
I live elsewhere in the UK
If you are not yet 16 you will get one appointment that you will attend with parents. You will meet two MPC therapists, one of whom will work with you while the other meets with your parents.
If you are over 16 you will choose whether or not you would like a parent session. If you do not you will receive one appointment for you to attend on your own. We recommend that parents are involved.
In person or online?
You can attend your appointment either by telehealth (e.g. using Zoom) or you can attend in person at the Centre. Please let us know how you would prefer to attend.
At your appointment
Your therapist will:
- ask you questions which will help you think about whether stammering is getting in the way for you, to what it extent it affects you and what you think you would like in terms of help.
- have a look at the questionnaires that you have completed and possibly ask you to do some others.
- video record you reading aloud and talking about a topic of interest to you.
- give you some information about stammering.
- talk about options for therapy, if that is what you want. You won’t have to make any decisions straight away. It is ok to take time to think about things.
If your parents are meeting with a therapist they will:
- go through a case history (being asked questions about you when you were younger as well as how they see things now)
- be given information about how you got on in your session
- be given information about stammering and therapy options
- have time to ask questions.
We sometimes have student speech and language therapists, or qualified speech and language therapists training with us which means that they sit in on sessions where people agree to this. You will always be asked how you feel about someone observing your session before it happens and it is ok to say no if that is what you prefer.
After your appointment
We write a report which is sent to you and, if you are not yet 18, your parents. We send it to other professionals named at the bottom of the report when you or your parents say that you are happy with the report, or when 2 weeks have passed.
Some young people come to the MPC for therapy after their assessment, while some continue to attend therapy locally. Your therapist will make decisions about this, with you, at your appointment, taking into account what you want and what therapy is available locally. Attending therapy at the MPC for families who are not local to Camden or Islington, requires funding. This can be from local CCGs/NHS Trusts, or when that is not available, through private funding or via application for charitable support.
If you are not going to come to the MPC for therapy you will be offered a review in 6 months time to see how things are going.
FAQs
Yes. Let us know on your referral form which language you prefer to use. We will do our best to arrange an interpreter through the Whittington Health NHS Trust Interpreting Services.
The only time when confidentiality does not apply is if we become worried about a person’s safety or wellbeing, or the safety of someone else. In these instances we need to share information because we are bound to do so by law. This could potentially be with a parent, but if someone tells us they do not want us to share information with their parent and we felt that they capable of making this kind of decision for themselves, then it would be with a GP. Everything else is confidential to the Michael Palin Centre unless you agree for information to be shared to help you with your therapy.
Starting to think about therapy?
If you want to know about therapy options go to therapy for young people at the MPC.
Sometimes you just need someone to talk to
Sometimes you just need someone to talk to
Our Helpline, 020 3316 8100, is open during office hours (9am-5pm) and voicemail messages can be left when the office is closed.
“I don’t feel alone now. I have been listened to and honestly feel like my child will benefit going forward.”
