PPN NW Blog - April 2025 Edition - A day in the life of a Child Psychotherapist

A day in the life of a Child Psychotherapist

What is your name and job title

Hi, my name is Alice Lowe and I’m a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. I currently work at both Oldham CAMHS and Oldham Early Attachment Service.

Tell us about your role, and a brief description of what you do

As a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, I work with children and young people (0-25 years) to help them unlock and better understand what is happening for them underneath their current difficulties. Psychotherapy sessions are led by the child/young person where they are able to use age-appropriate items from their own therapy box to express their emotions and experiences through a combination of talking, play and drawing.

What do you like most about your role?

The thing I find rewarding and therefore like most about my role is working alongside and enabling children to communicate their experiences and emotions in a way that can give greater meaning and understanding for not only themselves but also those around them; E.g. you don’t need to talk to be heard.

What could colleagues/PPN members do to help you with the work you’re doing?

Be curious…ask questions about Psychotherapy. One challenge of Psychotherapy, in my opinion, is the perceived secrecy around the work, as to protect the privacy of the therapeutic relationship there are no opportunities for colleagues to shadow sessions. This inevitably means Psychotherapy may not be widely understood or therefore considered as a viable therapeutic offer. I openly encourage you to be curious with your Psychotherapy colleagues about their work and how Psychotherapeutic thinking doesn’t just happen in the therapy room or in isolation by a sole Psychotherapist. If you would like to get in touch with me I can be contacted on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

The only rule is to always think! This advice was given to me by my Clinical Supervisor when I was training. I’d become too fixated on what I ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ be doing during sessions rather than wondering about why I had responded or acted into certain behaviours. I, as I think we all can, had become paralysed by my own persecutory thoughts of not being good enough or doing something wrong. Yet, when free of those ‘rule/s’ I was able to think and consider what had happened/was taking place in that moment. This piece of advice has followed me through my own training and is now something I pass on to those I supervise.

What’s your one top tip when remote or home working?

Stay connected…and I don’t just mean to the internet (although where I live that can be challenging enough!). I think it can be too easy to forget the importance of linking up with colleagues and not always to solely discuss work. I think the importance of simply ‘catching-up’ with one another can easily become lost in the busyness of working from home.  

What things do you do to look after your health and wellbeing?

With two young boys aged 5 years and 18 months I don’t get a lot of ‘me’ time. However, when I’m able I enjoy baking, in particular cakes and cookies, which in a feeble attempt to stay healthy I try to take in the offerings to colleagues at work. I am also currently enjoying, if that is the correct word, the escapism that is afforded by watching “Severance”. A though provoking series based on the concept of being able to divide the memories of your work and home lives. If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch it yet, I highly recommend.  

What would your colleagues be surprised to learn about you?

During the summer’s while at University I worked as a Ride Operator at Camelot Theme Park in Lancashire. I have many stories from that time in my life, not least knowledge of operating rides such as the Log Flume and Caterpillar ‘rollercoaster’ but also being one of the few female drivers of the diesel powered ‘Dragon Flyer’ which would break down frequently, resulting in me evacuating guests on building rooftops!