How does child therapy work?
If behaviours and persistent issues feeling more than a phase or the child has experienced trauma such as witnessing conflict, separation or loss, then both the child and their families can witness huge benefit from the person centred care of counselling. Here are some tips about child counselling and signs about when it’s needed.
You are your child’s world, the younger they are the more you will be part of their care
You are everything to your child, they look to you to decide how they should act, feel, think and view their world. Young children prioritise safety over everything else, even if that is at the sacrifice of development. The younger your child, the more your input in therapy is beneficial. Being with you in therapy will help them grow, improve, develop and learn because they need their safe person by their side, understanding them, empathising with them and be in it with them.
What helps most in child counselling?
Emotional regulation is vital for children, dysregulated children struggle to communicate, connect, rest and generally escalate provoking behaviours until their needs are met. Counselling helps the parent learn new ways to soothe their child, deal in healthy ways with challenging behaviour and gives the child opportunity to gain language, understanding and skills to have their needs met productively and safely.
How does therapy work by age?
We care for 3 -5 year olds through play and imagination alongside their caregiver/s in their own homes via zoom.
Care for children 6 to 10 is most beneficial with half the session attended by both or alternate caregiver/s and half alone. Generally at this age children have gained social development and are able to communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings through words. They are often open to being heard about what upsets them and interested in new ways to interact with caregivers with less conflict and more co-operation. Provided via zoom from the safety of their home/s.
11-18 year olds are capable of therapy alone. They often want and need a safe place to share their angst, feelings and thoughts with a non-biased listener. Parents are key figures however tension can arise as this age develop the strong drive to socialise alongside the shame and confusion of puberty and sexuality and the grief evoking change of not being their caregivers ‘little kids’ any more, all this can seem to cause a sense of the young person drifting away from the family unit, or stretching boundaries to the maximum. Their desire for freedom and independence up against their struggle of ongoing cognitive development, budding self identity seperate from their family and everyday challenges make therapy a healthy outlet for this age. We work individually with young adults and their caregivers to create lasting connection into adulthood.
Signs that therapy is right for your child and family
These signs can help you determine if therapy is right for your child:
Your child struggles with their feelings and seems to regress emotionally (throw tantrums/act out or act in on themselves) when they feel misunderstood.
The problems impact biological functions such as eating, sleeping and toileting.
Your child has challenges socially with making or keeping friends or interacting with siblings
The problems started after a stressful event or grief evoking loss.
You feel things have been ongoing and/or getting worse.
You feeling pushed beyond your own limits as a parent.
Separated or divorced parents can successfully coparent and communicate for the greater good of the child. (Children can often be struggling with disliking themselves due to parents dislike of each other and the childs internalisation that they are therefore unlikable).
If a caregiver is considering therapy, it is usually a sign that the situation requires help.
Is child therapy for you?
Sessions are 60-90 minutes via zoom and $150 for child therapy and $250 for 2 hour family therapy.
If you feel child counselling and family therapy is for you, book a complimentary phone call or an initial appointment via this link.
“My relationship with my child and honestly my own sanity was saved by taking the leap and having counselling together. It’s been the best for our family and I feel we can all breathe and function again, I'm no longer walking on egg shells and most importantly my child feels seen and is actually their happy self again” MC.