Laura Thomas Counselling

30/08/2026

BIG NEWS! 🎉

After a ridiculously quick turnaround of a week, I’m starting my Doctorate in Education (EdD) at Oxford Brookes this September!

I presented my research proposal on Friday and found out the SAME DAY that it had been accepted! 🎉

My research will focus on something I feel ridiculously passionate about - the relationship between parents and professionals when a teenager is significantly struggling with school attendance.

I see the same patterns again and again. Parents know the day-to-day reality of their teenager - the anxiety, exhaustion, patterns and what happens behind closed doors. Schools and professionals bring their own knowledge, responsibilities and expectations around attendance.

Everyone ultimately wants the same thing: a young person who is happy, engaged and learning. Yet sometimes those perspectives don’t align, and relationships between home and school can become incredibly difficult.

This feels extremely important alongside the Government’s ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ statutory guidance which came out in June this year, which places emphasis on schools working in partnership with families, listening to and understanding barriers to attendance and agreeing how those barriers can be addressed.

I want to understand what that partnership actually looks and feels like in practice - what helps parents and professionals work together, what gets in the way, and why the same difficulties seem to arise for so many families.

So… I’m starting a doctorate in a few weeks! 😳🎉

I am so ready to get started 🎓🔥

😂

Parenting Teens Hub

01/08/2026

Got a teenager? No idea what you’re doing?! Join like-minded parents trying to figure it out to!

Parenting Teens Hub

23/07/2026

From Bedford to Beijing... 🇬🇧➡️🇨🇳

Two years ago, I published Parenting Unstoppable Girls and Parenting Teen Boys with Confidence with one simple goal: to help parents better understand and connect with their teenagers.

Then something I never imagined happened...!

A publisher in China asked to publish my books as resources for professionals learning about how we support and raise teenagers in the Western world😳🥹

After more than a year in translation by two psychologists based in China, solicitors and contracts going back and forth, my books have now officially been published in China THIS WEEK, with an initial print run of 4,000 copies EACH! 😁🙏❤️

Seeing my work in another language is unbelievably surreal!!

It's a reminder that although cultures differ, the challenges of raising teenagers, and the desire to understand them - are universal.

I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported me along the way!

太感谢了😂

07/06/2026

Do you have a teen? No idea if what you are doing is right?! Come join a group of parents all wondering the same 😂
Parenting Teens Hub

16/05/2026

Have you got a teen or pre-teen and not quite sure what you are doing?! Join a group of us feeling the same!

Support, advice and reassurance join Parenting Teens Hub

06/04/2026

Sound familiar 👇🏻

Your teen says they’re “not worried” about exams…but you can see the signs.

Do you bring it up - or leave it?

😎 Bringing it up might shut them down or cause an argument… and you’ve had a lovely weekend, you don’t want to ruin it.

🤔 But if you leave it, you know it might all hit in a few weeks when the first exam is looming…

😟 And if they don’t revise, what if they don’t get the grades for college or sixth form?

😤 They need to do something - they’ve not revised all Easter…

😌 But you can’t have another argument about this, they will just need to learn the hard way….

😖 Except you know how upset they’ll be if it doesn’t go how they need it to…

Exam season is very nearly here and so many parents are having this very battle.
Let me help you with real tools and techniques that build motivation for exams and protect your teen’s mental health.

One-off, 60-min personalised sessions for you or your teen to attend, written plan and follow up call 👇🏻

Struggling with teen exam stress or revision arguments at home? Get practical, expert support to help your teen feel calmer, more motivated, and ready for exams.

29/03/2026

22/03/2026

If you’re parenting a teen and quietly wondering if you’re getting it right…there’s a group of us doing the same!

👉 Parenting Teens Hub

20/03/2026

Why small problems feel huge when you’re overwhelmed
Stress narrows the brain’s ability to think flexibly.

19/03/2026

Did you know emotions only last around 90 seconds biologically?
What keeps them going is the thoughts that follow.