We are a Kildare practice. Abbey House is on White Abbey Road in Kildare Town, and most of the children we see live within half an hour of the door.

That matters more than it sounds. Weekly therapy asks a family to make the same journey at the same time every week for months. When the drive is twenty minutes, that is manageable on a wet Tuesday in February. When it is ninety, it usually is not, and the work suffers for it.

Getting to us from around the county

Newbridge is about twelve minutes. Kildare Town itself is a few minutes. Naas, Kilcullen and Monasterevin are roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes, and Athy about twenty-five. Portarlington, just over the Laois border but firmly in the same catchment, is about twenty.

There is parking at Abbey House, and the room is on the ground floor.

If you are coming from further north in the county, Maynooth or Celbridge, the M7 makes it more straightforward than the map suggests, but it is worth being honest with yourself about the weekly commitment before you commit to it.

What we offer

Play therapy for younger children, and psychotherapy for older children and teenagers, roughly ages 4 to 18. Sessions are 50 minutes, weekly, at the same time each week.

Alongside that we work with parents and foster carers, either on their own or in our co-working model, where one therapist sees the child while another sees the adult. Supporting a child who is in therapy is harder than most people expect, and doing it without support of your own is harder again.

You do not need a referral. You can ring us directly.

If the drive does not work

We offer online sessions for teenagers, and for parents and foster carers who want support of their own. For a parent who cannot leave work at four, or a household with one car, that is often the difference between support and none.

Play therapy for younger children is in person only. The sand tray, the figures and the room are the work, and that does not translate to a screen. If your child is younger, the journey is part of it.

​For social workers, foster carers and schools in Kildare

We take referrals from Tusla, GPs, schools and Special Educational Needs Organisers, and we work with foster carers and residential services across the county.

For teams, training and consultation is often the better fit than individual therapy for one child — reflective practice for a residential staff team, or work with a carer on what a particular child's behaviour is communicating.

Referrals are triaged by distress and risk rather than order of arrival. If a child's situation is deteriorating, say so when you ring.

Get in touch

Ring 085 711 5668 or email contact@safesteps.ie. There is no referral needed and no obligation.

Abbey House, White Abbey Road, Kildare Town, Co. Kildare, R51 A589.

Where we work: Laois · Carlow · Kilkenny · Offaly · Dublin · Wicklow · Mullingar and Westmeath · Online sessions