What is Counselling for Children?

Counselling is an effective way to help you feel better. Counselling allows you to deal with negative feelings or behaviours and overcome your issues. It’s a talking therapy that allows you to talk about your problems and feelings in a confidential and dependable environment. For Children and Young People it can also develop skills and familiarity in understand their feelings and responses which can help them longer term too.

Counselling for children and young people can be different to adult Counselling depending on age, the specific issues and level of personal development. Different methods can be used to help younger children express themselves and their difficulties; this can include playing with toys, sand trays, making things and art. Drawing pictures and talking about feelings of a person in the picture and maybe inventing a story may help. These methods are simply tools to get a better insight into the unconscious.
Older children may prefer talking therapy, or a mixture of both, and the counselling approach will depend on the individual. The aim of Counselling for Children and Young People is to cope better with emotions and feelings.

What can Child Counselling help with?

Counselling for children and young people involves helping to develop a positive attitude to life, how to recognise personal strengths and how to express feelings and emotions. It does not involve making decisions for the child, imposing beliefs on them or preaching.

Child related issues may include:

Family and step-family relationships
Challenges at school
Anger Management
Friendships and relationships
Bullying
Bereavement and grief
Emotional problems
Behavioural problems
Depression, Anxiety and Stress

Children and Young People can experience a broad range of issues and emotional challenges that they’re not equipped to deal with. Counselling can really help.

How does Counselling for Children help?

Counselling helps to deal with issues that are causing emotional pain or uncomfortable feelings. It provides a safe and regular space to express and explore difficult feelings. Counsellors generally won’t give advice or ‘fix the problem’, but they do help find new insights and ways to understand problems in a more constructive way, allowing the negative impact to be reduced.

Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger than to parents, relatives or friends. During the session the counsellor listens and helps to find your own answers to problems, without judging, dictating or patronising.

Counselling can often involve talking about difficult or painful feelings. It’s quite common for Children to get a real sense of relief that finally they can talk about their issues without being judged or somehow making the problem worse. It’s an opportunity to look at issues in a different way.

With the help and support of your Counsellor, Children should gradually start to feel better not just in the sessions but in the long term too. In most cases, it takes several months of sessions before the Counselling really starts to make a long term difference, and a regular ongoing commitment is required to make the best use of the Counselling.

Getting Started

Pretty soon you’ll wish you’d started sooner!

Getting Started

What to expect

Counselling may be provided to children and young people (the client) on their own. Children under 14 are required to be escorted to Counselling and it is usually best for the child to have the right level of confidential and impartial support during the session. The client is always the child or young person and they have the right to confidentiality except where a risk assessment exception is applied.

In the first session your Counsellor will walk you through the counselling process and ‘Contract for Counselling’. This explains what happens in the sessions, the boundaries, confidentiality, supervision and what to do if you have concerns. Parents or guardians are expected to commit to the contract on behalf of the child but Young People are expected to commit to the contract for themselves. It’s likely that the client will be asked to complete a simple assessment form that helps describe their feelings. This assessment may be repeated occasionally to help understand your progress.

After this you’ll start talking more about your issues and feelings in as much or as little detail as you want. The pace is managed by the client though techniques can be used to help open up about thoughts, feelings and issues. Your Counsellor will start to understand your challenges more and will start to get some insights into you; you will be treated with respect and wont be talked down to. Sessions can be challenging, fun, sad, frustrating and feeling a range of emotions is common. Just remember that the more you open up the more your Counsellor can help.

Not quite sure?

Many people are nervous when they start to think about counselling and this is perfectly normal. Let’s face it, of the one in five people in the UK who have had counselling it’s likely that most of them were unsure at the beginning. Following millions of people into counselling means you’re not alone in getting some help; more often it’s the first positive step to feeling better.

If you’re starting to feel like you need some help, you’re struggling to resolve some issues or some aspect of your life, you need someone helpful to talk to, someone who wont judge and is trained in supporting and helping; then counselling is certainly worth considering.

Two of the most common reactions to counselling are:
“I wish i’d started sooner!” or “it felt like a weight had been lifted”. If you think you might want to feel like this then why not give it a go. At Novo Counselling we have a ‘First Session Guarantee’ so you’ve really nothing to lose!

If you’re still not sure why not ask us a question, just click the button below.

Ask a Question

Why come to Novo Counselling?

When thinking about counselling you need a Counsellor you can trust from a reputable organisation. At Novo Counselling we’re here to help! We’re not a charity or run by the NHS and we like to think we’re a little different. We’re professional, ethical and efficient but we never lose sight that it’s your life and your choice. We offer you comfort and security whilst supporting you through what can be a very emotional and challenging time.

There are plenty of reasons to choose Novo Counselling and here are just some:

Number One Private Counselling Practice in South East London.
We hand pick our Counsellors based on their qualifications, skills and experience and promote continuous professional development.
Our clinical supervision ensures our clients always get the best support possible.
We offer a tiered service offering affordability and excellence.
We have specialist Counsellors supporting a broad range of therapeutic needs.

With Novo Counselling being a private Counselling practice, you get the benefit of easy access to support, regular repeating appointments, a commitment to you and your emotional well being, no waiting lists and confidence in our ethical practice.