About Us

Owner of Creative Therapy

Hayley Graves – Social Worker

In 2006 I qualified as a Social Worker. I worked as a child protection Social Worker for 8 years for Lincolnshire County Council. I then spent 3 years as a School Based Social Worker in North East Lincolnshire. This involved undertaking 1-1 therapy sessions with children aged 4 – 17, creating and facilitating groups dependent upon the needs of the schools. The group work delivered included Mindfulness groups, Friendship/ Bullying and Self Esteem groups.

During this time, I completed a number of training courses enabling me to provide a wide range of different therapy styles to meet the needs all ages. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness, Theraplay, Sandplay training and Drawing and Talking Therapy are some of the further training I have completed.

I also completed a MSc in Psychology increasing my knowledge base further. As part of my Masters I completed a study into ADHD and looked at the support available locally for children with a diagnosis and their families. This highlighted the lack of emotional support for young people and their families. The recommendations made included support being available for young people and their families in order to improve their wellbeing and their emotional regulation. This was the reason I developed Creative Therapy, to ensure there is a service available to provide support for all young people regardless of their diagnosis, I work with their needs in order to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

I worked as a Senior Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner at North East Lincolnshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) which included supervising Wellbeing Practitioner Trainees. This increased my experience in relation to providing specialist therapeutic support. I have also completed my Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Childrens Accelerated Trauma Therapy (Trauma Focused – CBT), Dyadic Parent Child Art Psychotherapy, Yoga Teacher training and I am currently studying a PhD in Mindfulness. I have developed my own program ‘Creating Calm’ which I deliver in schools, this is based upon Mindfulness, CBT, Yoga and Relaxation.

I developed Creative Therapy to ensure there is a service available to offer support for all children and young people. The emotional wellbeing of children and young people is the main focus of Creative Therapy.

I complete regular CPD training courses and I am HCPC registered ensuring that I work ethically within their codes of practice.

I decided to further my studies in counselling in 2016, and I am currently working towards an Advanced Diploma in Counselling. Both my work and training has emphasised the importance of supporting our children and young people, with high rises in self-harm, anxiety and depression in recent years. This knowledge has driven me to ensure I keep an up to date knowledge of how to support students, through the use of courses and research.

I am excited to be working with Creative Therapy for children and young people, supporting more young people on a 1-1 basis. I use many integrated counselling methods, alongside creative techniques, to allow for more exploration and understanding, to ultimately improve mental health. I am also a fully qualified Children’s Yoga Teacher.