What is child counselling and how it is important for a child?

What is Counselling ?

 Counselling is a type of talking therapy that allows a person to talk about their problems and feelings in a confidential and dependable environment.

How is child counselling is different from adult counselling?

Counselling children and adolescents is often different from counselling adults, though the objective is the same. Methods used in counselling children and adolescents often depend on the clients’ age, development stage and individual challenges.

What is the counselor role and duty towards a child?

The relationship of counsellor and child  is built on trust and confidentiality and this makes the difference between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ session.

 – The counsellor would never impose their own views and beliefs onto the client, and will remain impartial and non-judgemental. 

– In order to develop a healthy therapeutic relationship, a counsellor has to provide a safe environment that would provide confidentiality, whereas the counsellor themselves would offer empathy, understanding, and respect towards the client. Hence its role of every counsellor to provide a protected environment to the child.

What are stages of child development?

1)Infancy stage(birth to 2 years of age).

2) The early childhood group (3-8yrs).

3) The later childhood group (9-12yrs).

4) The adolescence group (13-18 yrs).

What are different degrees of attachment?

1. The child’s age.
2. The parent’s responsiveness and attitudes.
3. The parent’s mental health state.
4. The baby’ developmental issues if any.
5. The family’s social status.
6. Financial situation.

How does a counselor counsel children and adolescents?

Counselor’s main aim is to provide a positive environment to the child. He or she provides undivided attention to the child. He or she undermines the trust of the child towards his elders and also brings all together. A counselor before counselling his client  always does psychological and practical planning and after then he suggests possible therapies.

What is child abuse and what are its form?

Child abuse can take several forms such as emotional abuse, fear, humiliation,evoking  a sense of guilt and  manipulation.there are three types of child abuse:-

Verbal Abuse-  it includes criticism, insults,threats and frequent voice disapproval.

Physical Abuse-  it involves aggressive behaviour, punching, kicking.

Sexual abuse-  it incorporate with inappropriate touching and behaviour that supposed to be kept as a secret. 

What is child bullying and why does it happen?

 Child bullying is when a child is being hurt either by words or actions on purpose, usually more than once, feels bad because of it, and has a hard time stopping what is happening to them. It happens because of these reasons:-

• Need for power and control.
• Having a certain  aim to psychologically damage someone.
• Systematic behaviour.

What are the types of therapies that a counselor uses to counsel a child?

1. Behavioural therapy–

   It is an action based therapy. It is used to reduce or eliminate negative behaviour and associate two behaviours( neutral & enjoyable) to obtain desired behaviour.

2. Token economies-

   It is done through positive enforcement of tokens. A token can be exchanged for privilege or desired item. Pocket money, stars,awards,praise letters are used as reward systems.

3. Group counselling-

   It works best for children as they can easily share their problems when they are with other children going through the same issues. It helps children  in exploration and resolution of issues, releasing disturbing emotions and modifying beliefs,attitudes and behaviours.

4. Narrative therapy-

   It is a storytelling therapy. Stories are both created by a child and counsellor. It involves the child’s actual problem and how it influenced  their life.

I have covered every detail about counselling of  a child. There are some stages in a child’s life where he or she requires counselling about the things going around in the environment and also every child should be aware of child abuse and bullying. I will advise all the parents reading this blog to  make your child aware of these issues. Also whenever you find that some issues are troubling your child then you should visit an authorised child counsellor.