How and When is Child Counselling Helpful?
Child counselling entails the establishment of a trust relationship with the child through a process called joining. Various methods are used according to the age of the child. When working with adolescents, it is, for instance, essential to follow the right and age relevant child counselling approach to build trust. This too can be done with tools and proven therapy approaches to assist children dealing with issues ranging from bullying to fears, parental problems, lack of self-confidence, understanding boundaries, transitioning from one school to another, working through anxiety separation, and more.
How Can Child Counselling Help?
Children, just as adults, often have to deal with stressful situations. The loss of a parent or sibling, being the victim of subtle or outright bullying at school, and coming to grips with the divorce of parents are all issues that they face. Sometimes, they are unable to express their fears or address emotional pain without help.
Professional assistance through child counselling helps them understand their situations, how such affect them and those around them, and how to deal with the emotions, thoughts, and situations. It provides opportunities to talk about their emotions and thoughts without the fear of being judged for how they feel. They can do so, because they are afforded a safe and comfortable environment in which they can express how they feel.
Parents want to help their children, but often, just the relationship between parent and child or at the very least, the closeness between them can lead to a child not sharing their anxieties or concerns with their parents. Having a professional assist through child counselling makes it possible to help the child to deal with challenging situations.
Issues, such as substance abuse in the family, being involved in a traumatic experience, suffering from depression, or having to work through emotions after an accident in which the child is left disabled are all areas in which child counselling can help the child and the parents to understand and work through the emotional and mental effects of such experiences.
When to Get Help
Get help when you see a dramatic change in your child. Caring also means being able to call in a third-party professional to assist when the situation is too challenging to handle as a parent.
Signs that a child may need counselling include a sudden worsening of school performance, a lack of interest in social activities, sleep problems, excessive aggression, violent emotional outbursts, persistent anxiety, substance abuse, self-harm, obsessive routines, talking about suicide, extreme weight loss or gain, and withdrawal from family life or school activities.
The goal of child counselling is to address the issues that lead to behavioural changes and help the child to deal with such situations.
Where to Get Professional Child Counselling Help
Dr Tienie Maritz offers a range of child counselling and educational psychology services. He understands the importance of effective communication when counselling children and adolescents. With more than 24 years of experience, Dr Maritz also provides a range of methods to evaluate thinking, behaviour, and learning.