Counselling for children and young people may differ from counselling for adults, depending on the child’s age, specific difficulties and their understanding.
We use a variety of different methods to encourage young children to be able to express their difficulties, such as play, art, storytelling and exploration around feelings.
Older children may prefer talking therapy, or a mixture of both, and the counselling approach will depend on a particular individual. Although different methods may be used for counselling children, the aim of counselling for both children and adults is ultimately the same; to help the individual cope better with their emotions and feelings.
Counselling may be provided to children and young people on their own, or it may be inclusive, i.e. working with children and their parents to find ways to help the whole family - provided to a child as part of a family (family counselling).
We have extensive experience in working with children who have experienced complex trauma and as such have difficulty in regulating their emotions. Children who have experienced complex trauma find it difficult to talk about how they are feeling and instead will ‘act’ out their feelings.
Many foster and adoptive placements break down, due to the lack of understanding around the effects of trauma and a lack of understanding of why these children do what they do. We work to help foster families gain strategies that help the child and help the foster parents to feel back in control.
Our goals are to help children forge and maintain meaningful reciprocal relationships, have a coherent narrative of their lives and to be able to make informed choices for a brighter future.
