Should I get my ten year old a child psychologist for anxiety?

[anxietyoverdriving]

I am very worried about my ten year old. He has always had an anxious personality.. For a while he seemed to be getting better at pushing through but in the past 8 months or so has regressed massively. He gets very anxious about going to school as he obsesses about the teacher leaving the class room which really frightens him. He has got anxious about me leaving him alone in the house and will call repeatedly to make sure I am still in the house. He used to like walking himself to school but is now too scared to do this and will cry if I ask him to. He is terrified about senior school even though he has a whole year of junior school to go.

I looked up child psychologists and they are £165 per hour which would be a really struggle for us. I've tried working through a CBT book with him but struggle to get him to keep engaging. Maybe I need to force this.

Anyway, anyone got any ideas of how to help him and are we at the point of ?needing a child psychologist.

He has a younger brother who has started expressing similar fears to his older brother and I am not sure if he genuinely has these fears or if he is learning them off his sibling.

Have a (free) chat with Therese Langford of https://www.facebook.com/calmmindhypnotherapy - she works extensively with children with anxiety.

Thanks @Eyesopenwideawake . That's helpful : )

Yes, I think you won't regret it. I have a son same age as yours at the time, highly intelligent and very anxious. The school suggested seeing a child psychologist and we went for just a few appointments. It really cleared things up for him . Talking with a benevolent objective person outside of familiar circle helped him immensely.

The sooner the problem gets solved the better for everyone. Good luck.

My DD was similar at the same age (now diagnosed autistic). Something that really helped her was some emotional literacy sessions, sort of similar to CBT, which helped her work through some of the challenging feelings with an objective person. Everything was confidential too so she could really unwind there. She needed 14 sessions at around £45 per hour. We have a local community interest company who offer this - but Action for Children often have the contract for this in other areas. It was worth every penny.

My 6 year old is very anxious and we recently started Relax Kids. They are much cheaper than a private psychologist and might be a good starting point. If you Google them you can search to see if there is anyone covering your area, or do it online. If you look by area also search neighbouring areas as they might cover you too. We pay £30 for a 90 min private session at home.
For my DD school is one place she is very happy going to (she won't go many other places), but I'm dreading the day she starts getting anxious about being there too.

Thanks for the advice everyone.