Cocoon Kids - Creative Counselling and Play Therapy CIC

Who we are

'A calm, caring cocoon where every child and young person reaches their true potential' - children and young people aged 3-19 years, and their families use Cocoon Kids - Creative Counselling and Play Therapy CIC's therapeutic sessions to safely explore their experiences.

Our community

Our Spelthorne and Hounslow West, Surrey Borders area is in the top 19% of the Indices of Deprivation, 2019 - with some areas ranking in the top 3. Formed at the height of the pandemic in direct response to our community telling us they're at breaking-point. Our community: children, young people and families on low incomes, receiving benefits and living in social housing, Our families already received free school meals, even before Covid-19. They're now also bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis.

Why this matters

Poverty and mental health difficulties in childhood significantly increases the likelihood of serious, long-term adult mental health challenges (Children’s Society, 2022). Our families are frustrated that CAMHS and other services typically offer 6-8 week sessions, after an extremely long waiting period (if at all). Often services are term-time and daytime only, and CBT or talk-based. But  children and young people need different approaches to adults, especially when impacted by trauma (BACP, 2022).

How our organisation meets our community's needs

We're not-for-profit and reinvests our surplus into fully-funded sessions for our community. Priority families are close to all of our hearts at Cocoon Kids, and our team also has lived-experience of intergenerational socio-economic disadvantage, social housing and ACEs, too. This is why our Child-Centred approach is Child Development, ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), Attachment and Trauma Informed - and our longer-term sessions use ‘bottom-up’ neuroscience-evidenced sensory regulatory best-practice approaches.

Future plans

Bringing this sensory regulatory 'bottom-up' approach and focus on supporting our community of priority families living in social and insecure housing through longer-term sessions, is something that's missing. We're already breaking through some glass ceilings as BAME, neurodiverse and 75% female-led organisation, but under the School for Social Entrepreneurs Start-Up program, we've big plans. We're already planning our conversion to a CIO and regional and nationwide services in the future, as we're repeatedly asked if we extend and can expand to other areas. Using our therapeutic training and our volunteer experience at Great Ormond Street Hospital, our dream is to have easily accessible therapeutic sensory spaces right where they're needed in the heart of our communities.

Children, young people and their families tell us how important this deeper lived-experience understanding and our 'bottom-up' sensory regulatory approach is to them. They tell us it really helps that we understand the additional challenges and barriers they face and 'get it' because we've walked in their shoes, too.