BACP Children, Young People and Families conference 2026
This year’s Children, Young People and Families conference by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) focussed on: Likes, lives and layers: unpacking the digital impact on young minds. A topic that is very much on people’s radar.
Our Communications and Marketing Officer Chrissy Norwich, also a counsellor working with young people and parents attended the event, which featured the following insightful topics, from knowledgeable speakers:
The digital maze: how screens shape risk, resilience and the realities young people don’t tell us
Keynote speaker: Shaun Polley is the Chief Executive Officer of Croydon Drop-In, a long-established young people’s mental health and wellbeing charity supporting thousands of children and families each year. He chairs BACP’s UK Expert Reference Group on school counselling provision and has contributed to national guidance and policy on safeguarding, missing and exploited children, digital harm, and youth mental health. His work brings together clinical insight, safeguarding expertise, and a deep understanding of the digital worlds shaping children’s lives today.
Shaun Polley drew on frontline safeguarding practice, national policy work, and lived organisational experience to unpack the complexity beneath the headlines: the layers of online life that sit behind self-presentation, the pressure to perform, the quiet crises happening in private chats, and the surprising ways young people use digital spaces to cope, connect, or disappear. There was good advice for equipping practitioners (and parents alike) with a clearer understanding of the digital “hidden curriculum” affecting emotional wellbeing and risk, while offering practical ways to engage young people who are navigating fast-changing platforms.
Watch this space for a blog bringing highlights from this keynote talk (due in our May newsletter)
Modern life is rubbish... (or is it?)
Keynote speaker: Jeanine Connor MBACP, MSc, MEd, BSc (Hons), is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, and the Editor of the BACP Children, Young People & Families journal and Reviews Editor for BACP Therapy Today. Jeanine is also the author of multiple publications including the notable books: ‘You’re Not My F*cking Mother and other things Gen Z say in therapy’ and ‘Stop F*cking Nodding and other things 16 year olds say in therapy’.
The session explored life for Gen Z, whose identity development is set against a backdrop of digital technology, Covid-19, climate change, culture wars, political unrest and economic recession. Looking at digital influences, especially social media, exploring the good, the bad and the ugly, plus social factors including peer relationships, diversity awareness, social hierarchies and the challenge of ‘compare and despair’ and the pressures to achieve and compete.
Watch this space for a blog bringing highlights from this keynote talk (due in our July newsletter)
Digital worlds, real impact: exploring videogames as therapeutic tools
by Ellie Finch MA, MBACP (Accred.), a clinical supervisor, integrative counsellor, and social worker specialising in work with neurodivergent children, young people, and families of children with additional needs or complex medical conditions. She is known for integrating videogames such as Minecraft and other creative digital tools to create more accessible routes into therapy for children, young people and families, and how it can be used as a digital sand tray to support both non-directive and directive therapeutic play.
Ellie spoke about how videogames and other creative digital tools can create accessible, inclusive spaces for children, young people, and families to connect and communicate. How digital environments help children express identity, experiment with creative ideas, and share experiences that may be hard to capture in words. Case studies from the University of Cambridge’s AHRC-funded ‘Bridging the ChASM’ project she was involved with, showed how digital worlds can help professionals hear and respond to children’s voices where traditional services struggle to engage, and help make mental health services more inclusive.
Behind the screen, behind the Behaviour: Supporting marginalised children and young people in a digital world
by Rickiesha Williams (MBACP), an Integrative Counsellor with experience supporting children, young people and families across education, youth services, social care and community mental health. Also Founding Director of The CYP Services CIC, Rickiesha is committed to helping CYP feel seen, understood and supported across both their online and offline worlds.
This session explored how digital, cultural and relational influences shape the identity and wellbeing of children and young people, focussing on those who are racialised, marginalised, have experience of care or are neurodivergent. Again supporting that for many, online spaces are not just entertainment, they are extensions of community, belonging and survival. But, that they can also be exposed to harmful or polarising content that misrepresent their identity, or peer dynamics that shape their confidence and sense of self. The session provided insight and practical tools for opening culturally responsive conversations about social media, building trust, and supporting those who may not yet feel safe enough to share their online worlds.
Raising digital souls: Helping families thrive and stay connected in a social media world
by Victoria Aregbesola, a counsellor, facilitator and and founder of Grassroots Counselling, a practice dedicated to supporting children, young people and families through inclusive, culturally responsive and person-centred approaches. Her work is informed by relational-cultural and systemic theories, with a strong emphasis on belonging, representation and empowerment, creating spaces where they feel seen, respected and free to speak their truth.
The session invited practitioners to rethink what true safety looks like for black and marginalised young people in therapy. How cultural humility, active listening and relational trust transform the therapeutic space into one that’s not just safe, but brave, to approach conversations about race, identity and belonging with authenticity.
Unreal standards, real harm: eating disorders and life online
by Kel O'Neill, an eating disorder specialist therapist, supervisor, and educator with over 20 years’ experience working in the eating disorder field. She has co-chaired the Academy for Eating Disorders Social Media Committee, and collaborated with Loughborough University on research exploring young people’s experiences of social media. She is also the co-founder of the Lived Experience of Eating Disorders Research Collective (LEED), the creator of The Eating Disorder Recovery Companion, and the curator of VOXED, an online eating disorder knowledge exchange network and conference.
The session focussed on how young people may turn to online spaces for coping, information, and support, including AI-mediated tools and content, as well as the curated content, and constant comparison which play a significant role in how body image, identity, and self-worth create pressures that are subtle, normalised, and difficult to recognise. Highlighting that the online world can hold the potential for both help and harm.
Sign up for our newsletter to hear useful data from the two keynote talks: