CHILD COUNSELLING

What is Child Counselling???

• It focuses on working with children who are facing

any kinds of difficulties in any domains of their life,
and is unable to make use of their own potentials.

• Child counselors often focus on breaking the

problems down so that children can understand and
make sense of them.

• Child counselors are specialists who can offer insight

into the inner workings of your childs development
 GOALS OF CHILD COUNSELING :
• To enable the child to deal with painful
emotional issues.
• To enable the child to achieve some level of
congruence with regard to thoughts,
emotions and behaviors.
• To enable the child to feel good about
themselves.
• To enable the child to accept their limitations
and strengths.
• To enable the child to change behaviors
• To enable the child to function comfortably and
adaptively within the external environment (for
example, at home and at school).
• To maximize the opportunity for the child to
pursue developmental milestones. (Geldard,
Geldard & Foo, 2017)

• Level 2 goals : the goals of the parents

• Level 3 goals : goals formulated by the

counselor
Differences in Child Therapy from
Adult Counseling :

• Skills that enable to work with adults are not

necessarily suitable for work with children.

• Need to be aware of the significant impact these

developmental stages have on childhood
understanding and communication and must be
willing to adapt their way of work to
accommodate these variants (Churchill, 2011).
• In child counseling, a counselor should have a
child friendly approach and a different way of
dealing with children in all matters which varies
from greetings to termination

• A Child Counselor should be skilled enough to

keep the children engaged in the session, as it is
quite difficult to keep them engaged in long
sessions.

• Should be able to possess ability to switch

between child and adult states alternatively so
that it will be easy to understand the problem at
its depth as well as to think reasonably upon the
• Intervention strategies, behavior modification
techniques... etc should be developed from a
child's point of view.

• Parents may be present during sessions, or in

some cases the session may be just the child and
the therapist. Some parents have a problem with
this approach; if this is the case, its important to
make this clear to the them before the first session
begins.

• In order to make the sessions fun and engaging for

the child, games and activities may be used to
promote expression and to provide the therapist
with a special tool for analyzing and treating
I) Beginning the counseling
process:
• Greeting

• Introducing

• Set the atmosphere/ build a rapport with

the child.

• Ask questions in order to collect the

personal details as well as to ease the child
out.
II) Getting at the
problem/Assessment
• Explore and structure the problem.
• Understand the situation/problem.
• Explore the positive qualities such as strengths of the
child.
• Create mutual awareness about the problem.
• Look at underlying causes of the problem
• Discuss the problem in detail with possible solutions
coming out from the child.
III) Formulating goals for
counseling/helping plans:

• Formulate the childs preferred

outcomes.

• Priorities which goal to start with

• Decide the relevance of the goals

together
IV) Implementation of counseling
goals and decisions:
• Stimulate solutions or strategies for change.

• Discuss advantages and disadvantages of these.

• Formulate and Implement a plan of action

• Work with/on coping strategies, and work with

social and cultural resources.
 V) Ending the counseling
process/evaluation:
• Prepare for termination by informing the client
whenever the decision is taken for terminating the
counseling sessions.
• The process needs to be systematic giving the client
some time to understand and deal with his
emotions
• Discuss reasons for termination.
• Summarize the entire counseling process.
• Provide feedback and focus on positive elements.
VI) Follow up :

• Plan for follow ups.

Process of relating to children

• Be warm
• Be friendly
• Be Empathetic
• Be honest, open and clear
• Accept the child
• Avoid flooding of advice
• Respect the child
Things to be taken in to concern
during therapeutic Process with
Children:
• Relationship

• Contact

• Resistance
Do's and Donts in Child
Counseling:
• Dos Verbal Communication:
• Using language that the client understands

• Conveying interest a) remembering details b)

addressing client by name

• Conveying acceptance

• Conveying willingness to help

• Encouraging statement yes I see, go on

• Reflection of feelings

• Focus on feeling and content .

• Giving needed information

• Addressing client in a manner appropriate to

his/her age

• Using humour or other means of reducing

tension

• Speaking audibly, slowly, clearly

Don’ts in Verbal Communication:
• Advising

• Giving moralistic judgments

• Discussing your personal problems

• Interrupting

• Imposing your own values

• Rejecting

• Premature interpretations
• Excessive curiosity

• Asking questions in a direct and embarrassing

manner

• Forcing unwilling disclosures

• Taking sides

• Arguing ,Controlling

• Labeling and diagnosing

• Not accepting patient’s feelings

• Encouraging dependence

• Talking too much

• Scold or criticize children for minor

misbehaviors
Do's in Non-Verbal communication
• Maintain suitable conversational distance.

• Maintain eye contact

• Attentive body posture

• Nod appropriately

• Use facial expression

• Use occasional gestures

• Provide unconditional love, compassion, and

acceptance

• Instill optimism

• Have patience and tolerance for the child's

misbehaviors and mistakes.
Don’ts in Non Verbal
Communication
• Looking away frequently

• Inappropriate distance

• Looking bored, irritated

• Fidgeting, yawning, looking at the watch

• Writing while client is talking

• Unpleasant tone of voice

• Sneering

• Cut out minor, less important commands and

directions that can safely be overlooked anyway,
to give the child a great feeling of self-
determination.
MODEL (children learn from watching
you) the Five Rs of child counselling:
• Resourcefulness

• Responsibility

• Respect

• Relationship investment

• Regulation of impulses and emotions

Different types of psychotherapies
and techniques used :
• Talk Therapy

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

• Play Therapy

• Art therapy

• Behavioral Therapy
Techniques of counselling
• Play through imaginative play
the child can tell his/her story, express
emotions. Try to direct the situation through
play to release some (sub-) conscious desires
and at the same time have fun.
• Buddy technique
Be a friend or a buddy to a child and he/she is
more likely to express his feelings and
experiences to you which are very important in
understanding the emotional state of the child.
• Drawing
Ask the child to draw something relevant (as specific as
possible, e.g. ask the child to draw a time when s/he
was angry or sad), a feeling, a memory, or a person
relevant in the counselling process.

• Painting, Give children paints and big sheets of paper

and allow them to express their feelings or thoughts
(abstract or realistic). They can do whatever they want
and even use other materials. This can be evaluated
by the counsellor.

• Relaxation techniques:
• Role-play
Use role-plays to try out newly learned skills or ideas. It
can also function as a practice for a particular task, for
example having to talk to somebody.

• Journal writing/Letter writing

Children can keep a diary between two sessions or a
longer period. In the diary, the child can focus on a
particular feeling (expression) or goal.
Benefits of Child Counseling :
• know how to work through and positively change
thoughts and behaviors so they can create a
happier life or more positive situation

• Children develop real problem solving skills to

apply to life situations where they are able to
effectively deal with problems with good solutions

• improve communication and develop more

desirable behaviors, which leads to more
connected relationships (family & friends) which
means kids get along in a more positive way
• therapy helps kids and families know how to cope
with stress by learning specific steps, skills and tools
about how to reduce or stop problem behaviors

• increase healthy family and friendship interactions

by improving communication styles and reduce
conflict

• counseling help to improve confidence and self-

esteem by having positive thoughts and feelings

• Children can learn how to express themselves to

their parents with their thoughts and feelings and
be able to say what they need, which helps parents
understand and know how to help.
Limitation of Child Counseling
• Communication difficulties

• Involvement of parents

• Difficult to keep them involved

• Effective therapies that works well in a child are

few in number
 REFERENCES:
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry,( 2018) Retrieved from
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&rc
t=j&url=https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_a
nd_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-
Guide/Psychotherapies-For-Children-And-
Adolescents-086.asp
• Child Counseling: What Is Child Counseling & What
Do Child Psychologists Treat? TherapyTribe. (n.d.).
Retrieved from
https://www.therapytribe.com/therapy/child-
counseling/ Retrieved on : 22nd July 2018.
• Child Counselling. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&rc
t=j&url=
https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/ethical_
considerations_when_counselling_children_0_0.pdf
&ved=2ahUKEwi785_0s93cAhXLsI / Retrieved on :
22nd July 2018.
• Deepening and Developing Counselling Skills. (n.d.). Skills
in Counselling & Psychotherapy with Children & Young
People, 53-79. doi:10.4135/9781473910201.n4
• Geldard, K., Geldard, D., & Foo, R. Y. (2017). Counselling
children: A practical introduction. Sage.
• Lawrence, G., & Kurpius, S. E. R. (2000). Legal and ethical
issues involved when counseling minors in nonschool
settings. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(2), 130-
136
• National COMMISSON FOR PROTECTION OF CHILD Rights
(NCPCR). (n.d.). A Handbook on Counselling For Training,
and skill development of staff of Child Care Institutions.
• Oaklander, V. (1997). The therapeutic process with children
and adolescents. Gestalt Review, 292-317.
• Rubin, Kenneth & Bukowski, William & Parker, Jeffrey.
(2006). Handbook of Child Psychology. Wiley, 571-645