Children and Adolescent Counselling
Childhood and adolescence years are crucial stages of our social, emotional, physical, and spiritual growth and development. What we experience during these years can have a long-lasting effect on our mental health, our relationships, our future direction, and importantly, our coping skills. Thus, it is extremely important to support early prevention and intervention.
Our counselling program works with children as young as 4 years old and up, and can also incorporate aspects of Play Therapy in order to meet the child’s learning patterns and needs. Child and adolescent therapy teaches the youth how to overcome present mental health challenges, provides them with tools to live a happy life, and builds their resiliency in being able to cope with difficulties that life throws their way.
The goal of our counsellor is to assist children and adolescents in the following ways:
- To adjust to changes in family and structure
- To better understand and cope with difficult and confusing emotions
- Transitioning from home to independence
- Dealing with bullies
- Building self-esteem and confidence
- Adjusting to parental separation and divorce
- Mental Health, Addiction, and Behavioural issues
- Eating Disorders
- Anxiety and Depression
- And many more!
How do you know if your child needs therapy?
Parents often question whether or not their child or adolescent would benefit from therapy at this time. The following symptoms or signs are some of the most common indicators:
- Having difficulty or putting up a fight to go to school
- Being quick to anger, frustration or tantrums
- Crying often and low mood
- Social anxiety and difficulty forming friendships
- Steep academic decline or poor performance in school
- Difficulty sleeping and recurring nightmares
- Lack of participation in former enjoyable hobbies
- Rebellious or confrontational behaviour
Our therapist will provide a free 15 minute phone consultation with parents prior to setting up an appointment to discuss the main challenges they are noticing in their child or adolescent. We then decide together whether sessions will be carried out alone or with you present, or a combination of both.