How to Counsel Children

Tuesday 22 January 2013 0 comments

The following guidelines are useful when counselling children and adolescents:


1. It is crucial that the child or adolecent feels unconditionally accepted, valued and respected by the counsellor. Only then, can trust be established.

(Note: Often young people live in highly reactive and unpredictable environments, where love and acceptance are conditional, and where rejection and criticism are the norm. In contrast to this, the counsellor should model healthy, affirming relationships.).  

2. The type and quality of relationship are key to effective counselling. Thus, the counsellor should be experienced as being warm, caring, accepting, empathic and trustworthy.

3. Children and adolecents are highly sensitive and extremely intuitive. They can pick read subtle nonverbal messages, and sense what other people are thinking and feeling. Thus, they are quick to recognise a lack of sincerity, boredom, disinterest, impatience, irritation, judgment and dislike.

4. Counsellors must seek to create an environment of both safety and permissiveness. This allows the young person to feel free to explore, and to express themselves in an authentic way.

5. The counsellor must convey the message: “I accept you as you are”, and not “I accept you if …” This does not mean that there are no therapeutic limits or that all behaviours are acceptable. However, none of this impacts on the uniqueness and value of the individual child or adolescent.

6. Be alert to the danger of children and adolescents trying to please the counsellor. This can hamper the therapeutic process by preventing the client from being real, and from exploring negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

7. It is important that the counsellor seeks to understand the younger client’s world from their unique perspective. For the more children feel that they are understood, the more likely they are to open up and share.

8. It is usually unhelpful to offer reassurances. (For example, “Everything will be alright/ Your mom really does love you.”) This can send the message that the counsellor does not want to hear about the young person’s pain – or that negative emotions are unacceptable.

9. It is important to not come across as patronising, and to help the young person find their own solutions (rather than suggesting ideas yourself.)

10. The therapeutic process is often slow and gradual – so be willing to accept the young client’s pace.

11. Beware of creating a dependency as this will undermine the young person’s growth.

12. Accommodate and work with cultural differences.

Share this article :

Post a Comment

 
Support : PsychTronics | Psych | Psych Template
Copyright © 2013. PsychTronics - All Rights Reserved
Template Created by Psych Published by Psych
Proudly powered by Blogger