Child psychologist and child psychodietitian in Warsaw Wola

A consultation with a child psychologist at OpenMed Medical Centre is a form of support for children, teenagers and parents that helps make better sense of emotional, developmental, behavioural, school or social difficulties. It is worth seeing a specialist both when the problem is already clear and when a parent notices a change in their child's behaviour but does not yet know where it comes from.

At OpenMed in Warsaw Wola we offer psychological consultations for children and teenagers, parental consultations, diagnostic consultations and selected assessments supporting the evaluation of a child's functioning. A child psychodietitian also sees patients at the clinic, helping children, teenagers and their parents with difficulties around food, emotions, body image and building a calmer relationship with meals.

When is it worth booking a child in with a psychologist?

Help from a child psychologist may be indicated when a child or teenager is facing difficulties that affect everyday functioning at home, at nursery, at school or in relationships with others. Reasons to book a consultation include:

frequent anxiety, tension, sadness or withdrawal,
sudden changes in mood or behaviour,
outbursts of anger, impulsivity or difficulty regulating emotions,
problems with concentration and sustaining attention,
difficulties at nursery or school,
conflicts with peers or difficulty forming relationships,
behavioural problems reported by parents or teachers,
suspected ADHD,
suspected autism spectrum disorder,
difficulties with communication and social contact,
low self-esteem,
problems with sleep, eating or reactions to stress,
situations that are hard on the child, such as parents separating, illness, moving house, changing school or other significant family events.

A consultation does not always mean long-term therapy has to start. Often the first goal is to make sense of the parents' observations, name the difficulty and establish whether the child needs further assessment, psychological support, a consultation with another specialist or changes in how the adults around them respond day to day.

Joanna Hawryszko, MME

Paediatric psychology

Warsaw - Wola

Klaudia Markiewicz, MME

Psychology, Paediatric psychology

Warsaw - Wola

All doctors

Psychological consultation for children and teenagers

This is the basic form of meeting with a child psychologist. The consultation covers the child's difficulties, how they function at home, at nursery or at school, their relationships with peers, their emotional reactions and the current family situation.

With younger children, the conversation with the parent and the observation of the child's behaviour matter a great deal. With older children and teenagers part of the session may be more individual, depending on age, the child's readiness and the purpose of the consultation.

Parental and behavioural consultation

Not every appointment has to involve the child. Sometimes the most helpful option is a meeting with the parents alone, to discuss difficult behaviour, ways of responding, communication within the family and situations that keep repeating at home or at school.

A behavioural consultation can help when a parent does not know how to respond to anger, anxiety, refusal to cooperate, problems with boundaries, conflicts between siblings or difficulties adapting.

Diagnostic consultation for a child

A diagnostic consultation serves to build a fuller picture of how the child functions. The psychologist may assess communication, behaviour, contact, emotional reactions, attention, pace of work, understanding of instructions and other areas important for development.

Such a session may be the first stage of a wider diagnostic process, or help establish whether additional assessments are needed, or a consultation with a child psychiatrist, paediatric neurologist, paediatrician, speech therapist, sensory integration therapist or another specialist.

Psychological assessment of children and teenagers at OpenMed in Warsaw

At OpenMed diagnostic consultations and selected tools supporting the assessment of a child's functioning are available. The psychologist may propose an ADHD assessment using the Conners tool, an assessment of cognitive functioning with the Stanford-Binet 5 scale, and tools helpful in autism spectrum assessment such as ASRS and ADOS-2.

The choice of assessment depends on the child's age, the difficulties reported and the purpose of the consultation. Results are discussed with the parent during a separate appointment or as part of the diagnostic process, so that possible next steps can be indicated - for example a consultation with another specialist, psychological support, or recommendations for home or school.

Child psychodietitian in Warsaw - support in building a healthy relationship with food

At OpenMed consultations with a child psychodietitian are also available. This is help for children, teenagers and parents in situations where food starts to be bound up with tension, conflict, anxiety, excessive control or strong emotions.

Difficulties with food are not always about the menu itself. Sometimes the problem is selective eating, refusing to try new products, eating in response to emotions, binge eating, excessive focus on body weight, guilt after meals, tension at the table or frequent family conflicts around food.

A child psychodietitian helps look at food more broadly - not only through the lens of products, calories or body weight, but also emotions, stress, the atmosphere at home, family relationships, the child's self-esteem and how adults respond. What matters in the consultation is understanding what happens before, during and after a meal: whether the child feels pressure, whether food is becoming a tool of control, whether meals cause tension and what messages the child hears about appearance, the body and eating.

Psychodietetic support can be particularly helpful when a parent observes in their child:

strong selective eating,
avoidance of specific products or entire food groups,
fear of eating or of trying new dishes,
eating in response to stress, sadness, anger or tension,
binge eating or loss of control over food,
excessive interest in body weight, appearance or "healthy eating",
guilt after meals,
negative comments about their own body,
family conflicts about food,
difficulty keeping to regular meals,
worsening mood or self-esteem linked to food and appearance.

The aim of a psychodietetic consultation is to support a calmer, safer relationship between the child and food. The specialist can help parents reduce pressure at the table, respond better to food refusal, avoid reinforcing tension around meals and gradually build more supportive habits within the family.

With teenagers the consultation may also cover body image, self-esteem, comparing themselves with others, the influence of social media, weight control or emotional eating. If the situation calls for it, the psychodietitian may suggest extending the assessment with a paediatric, psychiatric, psychological, dietetic or other specialist consultation.

What does the first appointment look like?

The first session usually serves to take a history and understand the child's situation. The specialist asks about development, health, functioning at home, at nursery or at school, relationships with peers, emotional reactions and the reason for coming.

For some services the first consultation takes place without the child and is intended for the parent or carer. This allows the problem to be discussed calmly, the most important information to be gathered and the next stages of the sessions to be agreed.

It is worth bringing to the appointment any earlier psychological, educational or medical opinions, records from a psychological and educational counselling centre, information from school or nursery, and the results of earlier assessments, if any were carried out.

For a psychodietetic consultation, information about how the child has been eating, the rhythm of meals, accepted and avoided products, difficulties that arise at the table and the situations in which food most often causes tension can also be helpful.