Empower your child to deal with life’s challenges healthily.
Child counselling focuses on helping children who are having difficulties dealing with challenges in school or at home.
It also helps children who may be having problems meeting emotional or social developmental milestones. Child counselling is suitable for children of ages 7 to 11*.
Child counselling gives children the resources to manage their emotions and stress, while helping them build self-esteem and confidence.
Through the counselling process, it also helps guardians to understand what their child is going through and how to help them. Get in touch with our psychotherapists to get help for your child as quickly as possible.
*Individuals aged 12 to 18 can opt for counselling for adolescents.
Signs That My Child May Need Counselling
Changes in your child’s behaviour and personality can be signs that they may need counselling.
Here are some distinctive signs that your child may need counselling:
- Defiant behaviours and increased irritability
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Withdrawal from interests and habits
- Excessive worrying and sadness
- Regressions, such as bedwetting, clinginess, and using baby talk
- Social isolation
- Expressing feelings and ideas of self harm
Conditions That Can Be Managed With Child Counselling
During counselling sessions, our counsellors will use different modalities to help children express themselves and work through their challenges. Our psychotherapists are trained to help children who may be experiencing a difficult time at school or with family.
Counselling can also help children with conditions such as:
- Eating disorders
- Self-harm
- Disruptive behaviour disorders
- Low self-esteem
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma
- Anger management
- Eating disorders
- Self-harm
- Disruptive behaviour disorders
- Low self-esteem
Approaches We Use in Child Counselling
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
What it is:
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of talk therapy that focuses on helping one to recognise negative thoughts and behaviours. It assists one in building healthy thinking and behaviours for a better life.
How it works:
During CBT, your child will learn how to recognize and cope with different emotions through strategies such as keeping a journal and relaxation techniques. They will also learn how to transform their unhelpful thoughts and to practise skills learnt during therapy sessions.
CBT aims to help children manage their self-defeating thoughts and behaviours and replace them with self-regulation and problem-solving skills.
Experiential Therapy
What it is:
Experiential therapy is a technique that uses various expressive tools and activities to recreate past experiences. Through these activities, the therapist will observe your child to see how they react in emotional situations and work towards reshaping these experiences.
How it works:
This therapy is done based on the child’s preferred form of expression. Thus, it can take any form such as role playing, music or crafts. The aim is to allow your child to gain awareness and better understanding of their experiences, feelings and needs.
Expressive Arts Therapy
What it is:
Expressive arts therapy is a combination of dance, writing, drama, visual arts, music and other creative modalities. This therapy utilises the healing properties of self-expression through expressive art and may be useful when treating children who may not yet have the ability to describe what they are thinking or feeling.
How it works:
Expressive arts therapy allows your child to express their pent up feelings through singing or drawing. Expressing themselves through art is a safe emotional outlet for your child.
Why Choose Sofia Wellness Clinic For Child Counselling?
Safe Environment
We strive to create a safe and comfortable environment for your children to express their thoughts and feelings freely.
By creating this non-judgmental environment, we hope that your children are able to cultivate confidence and a better understanding of themselves.
Evidence-based Approaches
Our psychotherapists practise different evidence-based approaches to support our clients’ mental health journey.
These approaches include CBT, acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavioural therapy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are parents or caregivers part of the counselling sessions?
Parents are encouraged to join in for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the initial session to meet with the counsellor for intake purposes. Subsequent parental participation will depend on the issues that the child may be facing and the overall treatment plan. In general, the younger the child is, the higher the level of parental participation is required.
Does a child need parental consent for counselling?
Yes, children and teens below the age of 18 are required to obtain consent from their parents or legal guardians for counselling.
Will a child’s counsellor share about the sessions with their parents?
Confidentiality is of paramount importance to establishing a trusting relationship between the counsellor and the client. The counsellor will not be able to disclose any information discussed during counselling sessions without prior consent from your child, with the exception of safety issues such as if your child is in serious danger of doing harm to self, or harm to others.
We understand that parents are concerned about the well-being of their child and would also like to know how to better support their children. With the consent of your child, the counsellor and parents may be able to work out an arrangement for updates that are comfortable for all parties, such as inviting parents to join in every few sessions.
What happens if the counsellor finds that parental involvement is critical to the counselling process?
In instances in which parental participation is critical to the intervention and treatment process, the counsellor may recommend for family counselling or for parents to be more actively involved.
However, in the event of ongoing family violence, the counsellor will have to make a police report as a mandated reporter.