Child & Youth Counselling Overview

Child & Youth Counselling

• Child & youth counselling focuses on a different approach than adult counselling.

The Process

• Key stages include referral, ethics, assessment/goals, therapeutic work, relationship/safety, and closure.
• A referral might come from schools, ministries, daycares, or sports clubs.
• Ethical considerations and relevant legislation are critical

Ethical Considerations

• Confidentiality and informed consent are essential.
• Child is the primary focus, therefore parental consent needs to be considered.
• Understanding legislation is crucial (UN Convention on the Rights of Children, Canadian Charter, Child, Family and Community Service Act, and Infants Act).

Referral

• A nine-year-old, Sally, is the subject of a referral.
• Sally's father, Fred, is concerned about her behaviour.
• Sally's father is unsure of Sally's mother's whereabouts or contact information and wants her mother to be excluded.

Disclosure

• Remain calm, listen to concerns.
• Believe disclosed information (including possible abuse).
• Recognize and respond to safety considerations.
• Identify and report issues to appropriate authorities (like MCFD or RCMP).
• The intervention and substance of reporting must be discussed with case workers (for instance, an emotional issue does not necessarily need substantial intervention)

Assessment

• Children and youth have unique characteristics.
• Assessment techniques need to be tailored to developmental, cognitive, emotional, and physical stages.
• Counselling must be appropriate for the age and development.
• Adapting methods for assessment and therapeutic techniques are necessary.

Congruency

• Understanding the child/youth's level of understanding is crucial.
• Information provided to the child/youth and their family must conform to their developmental levels.

Assessing for...

• Assess self-reflection abilities.
• Evaluate problem-solving skills.
• Understand processing styles.
• Assess attachment styles.
• Determine self-regulation capabilities.

Understanding

• Children and youth may struggle with abstract reasoning.
• This hinders aspects like generating alternative courses of action, predicting outcomes, comprehending cause and effect, and resolving moral issues.

The Dreaded "Why" Question

• The "Why" question can imply blame.
• A more helpful approach involves asking "What happened before...?" to understand the context.

Attachment Patterns

• Secure attachment, Avoidant attachment, Ambivalent attachment, Disorganized attachment.
• Attachment impacts future relationships.
• Therapy could be necessary to repair attachment patterns.

Common Issues in Children and Youth

• Anxiety and depression.
• Emotional/behavioural dysregulation.
• Grief and loss.
• Relationships.
• Sexual orientation and gender identity
• Self-harm, suicide ideation.
• Trauma.
• Eating disorders.
• Substance use.
• Sexual behaviours.
• Violence and aggression.

Goals

• Counselling should consider the goals of the child, the parents, the counsellor, and the fundamental goals of coming to therapy.

Clarifying Counsellor Role

• Children and youth may view counsellors using power and authority roles in their lives (providers, rule makers, disciplinarians, advice givers).
• Counselling must be clarified, and the counsellor's role must be defined and understood by the individual.

Relationship is Everything

• Quality of the therapeutic relationship is primary.
• Authenticity and unconditional positive regard are essential.
• The 'joining' process for children/youth often involves creating individuality in a way that is distinct from and sometimes more personal than working with adults.

Therapeutic Relationship

• Understanding and respecting the child/youth's perceptions.
• Creating a unique, special relationship.
• Providing a safe, flexible structure.
• Using authentic and genuine communication.
• Ensuring confidentiality.
• Avoiding intrusive interventions.
• Interventions need to be purposeful.

Speaking Through Media

• Children may express emotions and ideas through various media.
• Adapt communication methods to the preferences of the youth.

Verbal vs. Nonverbal

• Alternate methods to verbal counselling include play, sand, art, bibliotherapy, journaling, dance, music, wilderness therapy, car therapy, and animal-assisted therapy.

Media Representations

• Media (drawings, paintings, sculptures, play) can be used to express emotions and ideas.
• Counsellors must not interpret and should instead listen to convey understanding.

Play Therapy

• Nondirective play therapy (client-centred and led by the client).
• Structured approaches (therapist-centred and setting boundaries).

Let's Reflect

• A reflection activity is suggested to understand the child's past experiences, interests, and preferences.

Children (Concrete vs Abstract)

• Children are more concrete and visual in their learning and counselling process.
• Employ media and mediums to match the concrete nature of the child's perspective.

Building Safety with Children

• Children process and learn through play.

Play! (Methods)

• Diverse play materials are useful in therapy.

Youth

• Counselling for youth may differ from traditional child counselling.
• Activities to connect with youth include games, art projects, social media, and outdoor activities.

Maintaining Safety

• Boundaries, consistency, transparency, and honesty are important when working with children and youth.
• Increased self-disclosure in relation to the client may be necessary.

Adolescents

• Treat each adolescent as an individual and consider all developmental needs.
• Adolescents are distinct from children and adults.
• The adolescent's changing relationship with their family is an important factor in the therapeutic interaction.
• Counselling must reflect their autonomy and cognitively advanced nature.

Developmental Challenges

• Adolescents face unique challenges like: navigating impulses, body image issues, developing self-evolving identities, autonomy/control, and identity confusion.
• Consider peer pressure, and peer acceptance vs. rejection.
• Address possible handling conflicts, poor decision-making, and inadequate coping mechanisms.

Child/Youth's Process

• Children/youth may exhibit problematic behaviours and emotions.
• Counselling fosters a relationship between the child/youth and the counsellor.
• Encourage the child/youth to process through various media, share their story, and understand the issues.
• Be patient when encountering resistance, deflection, or avoidance.

Change & Growth

• Counselling can help children and youth understand themselves.
• Encourage experimenting with new emotions/behaviours.
• Counsellors aid clients to move to new adaptive functioning or restart when necessary.

Endings

• Provide a structure for closing the counselling phase in a supportive way.
• Include celebratory elements when possible.

Closing Thoughts

• The fascinating and rewarding aspects of working with young people.
• Identify appealing aspects of working with young people.

Some Challenges

• Confidentiality is crucial in client care.
• Counsellors must handle the complexities of dealing with multiple parties wanting to influence the counselling process (parents, other family members, etc.)
• Abrupt endings and working with multiple parties are also challenges.

More Interesting...

• Working with young people provide opportunities to develop in various contexts (worldviews, meaning of life, identity formation).
• Young people share great empathy and an abundance of learning opportunities.

References

• Include relevant counselling references.

Explore the unique aspects of child and youth counselling, including the key stages of the counselling process, ethical considerations, and referral strategies. Understand the significance of parental consent and relevant legal frameworks in this specialized field of therapy.