Testimonials

Xena has been a steadfast rock of support for my son through some very challenging teen/early adult years, including a relatively late ADHD diagnosis. Her professionalism, empathy and steady consistency have given  my son a reliable safe space to talk through his own challenges and also helped him to build practical strategies to manage them. I cannot recommend Xena highly enough. My son has benefited hugely from Xena's support. 

Xena was recommended to us by a paediatrician and we are so pleased she was. Xena has made a huge impact to our daughter’s confidence and ability to cope with school, anxiety and the transition from primary to secondary school. Xena is calm, caring and quickly put our daughter at ease, enabling her to work through her anxiety and develop strategies which she regularly uses. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Xena. 

Working with Xena has been a really positive experience. From our initial communication, working with Xena has been an excellent process. She provides a supportive and attentive presence within a safe, relaxed environment. Xena is very easy to speak with and offers a variety of effective coping strategies tailored to different situations. Securing her support for our young person has been a highly beneficial experience, and I would thoroughly recommend her services to others.

There are lots of professionals who can write reports. What stood out about Xena was her ability to understand the child behind the paperwork. 

She quickly built a relationship with our son and helped us understand not just what he was struggling with, but why. Her advice was always practical, thoughtful and tailored to him as an individual.

During a complex EHCP process involving multiple professionals, Xena’s contributions were consistently insightful and constructive. Her recommendations helped shape provision that is now legally secured within our son’s EHCP and, more importantly, will make a real difference to his day-to-day life.

While much of an EHCP understandably focuses on educational access and academic progress, Autism and ADHD affect far more than learning. They influence how our son experiences the world, understands himself, interprets situations and engages with other people. One of the things we valued most about Xena’s work was her focus on helping our son understand and process his own emotions, whilst developing the skills needed to navigate relationships with friends, family and the wider school community. This work is helping him become a more confident, well-rounded individual, whilst also giving us as parents a far deeper understanding of how he experiences the world and how best to support him.

We are incredibly grateful for her support and would recommend her without hesitation.

We cannot recommend Xena highly enough! As parents of a neurodivergent child with complex needs, finding the right psychotherapist felt incredibly important. From the very beginning, Xena's warmth, kindness and genuine compassion helped our son feel safe and understood. Within just a couple of sessions, our son was beginning to tackle things he had previously been unable to face. Xena has an incredible ability to meet him where he is, work at his pace, and adapt her approach to how he thinks, processes and experiences the world. Alongside her work with our son, Xena's professionalism and collaborative approach with the wider team supporting him have been invaluable. Her insight, patience and understanding have already made a profound difference to our son's wellbeing. We are so grateful for everything she has done in such a short space of time and feel incredibly positive about the therapeutic journey ahead"

We first met Xena when she carried out a State of Mind assessment for our son, which included sessions with us as parents as well as individual work with him. From the very beginning, she was warm, kind and completely non-judgemental. She created a safe space where everyone felt listened to, understood and supported. Our main reason for engaging Xena was to help our son get unstuck in a safe way with no further trauma. The SOMA has been hugely helpful in relation to his EHCP.

Xena now works with our son on a weekly basis, and her approach has made a huge difference. She gently encourages him to explore what he finds difficult, understand the reasons behind his fears, and then test those fears against reality in a way that feels safe and manageable. Rather than pushing him, she supports him to build confidence at his own pace.

After spending over a year barely leaving the house, our son is now slowly becoming more open to new experiences and challenges. The progress may be gradual, but it is significant, and largely down to the trust and therapeutic relationship that Xena has built with him. Of all the avenue's we have tried for support with our son over the last year this has by far had the biggest impact.
We are grateful for Xena's patience, insight and ability to hold space for both our son and our family. She has helped him begin to see that difficult things can be faced, and that the reality is often far less frightening than he imagines. We would wholeheartedly recommend her to any family seeking compassionate, thoughtful and effective support for their child.

Xena supported us in navigating some challenges with our child and provided a safe and comfortable environment throughout our sessions. Her guidance, empathy, and professionalism helped us better understand our situation and approach it with greater confidence. We felt supported and grateful for the guidance provided and would highly recommend her services.

This is a review of Acorn Psychological Services and Xena Anderson. Our 11 year old daughter has been receiving psychological support from Xena for over 6 months and we could not be more grateful for the care, professionalism and compassion shown in the process. From the first moment, Xena created a warm, welcoming and safe environment where our daughter Mia feels comfortable. We had been seeing different psychologist before, and feel that Xena through her skills and patience built a trusting relationship with Mia. The support provided is thoughtful, age appropriate and tailored to our daughter's individual needs. We noticed improvement with our daughter’s overall behaviour, confidence and emotional wellbeing, anger management and ability to manage challenges better. Xena also offers some great tips and guidance to us - parents. We would wholeheartedly recommend this service and Xena to any family seeking psychological support for their child. Positive impact on our daughter and our family has been truly invaluable. Thank you for making such a meaningful difference to our lives