Paediatric Counselling

Paediatric counselling is a form of therapy that can be provided to children/teens who are struggling with their mental health, have experienced loss/trauma, experiences stressors to a degree that it interferes with their ability to perform daily activities and experience pleasure, or in preparation for a major life change.

Paediatric counselling can take on many forms for example talk therapy, expressive therapy or play therapy, to name a few. The goal of paediatric counselling is to break down the distressing problem(s) a child/teen experiences into managable parts to allow a child/teen to understand and cope with it better.

Like a majority of paediatric services, counsellors do not just work with the child/teen but with their family and support network (both formal and informal). Counsellors, Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Pathologists, therefore, work closely together and complement each other to support children/teens and their families to achieve their goals.

A sudden onset of the following could indicate that a child/teen could benefit from counselling:

• Aggressive or violent behaviour
• Abusive language
• Difficulty following rules (when they have the skills to do so)
• Lack of social interactions/friendships
• Over-timidity/whining/withdrawal
• Over-dependent behaviour
• Sleep disturbances
• Irritability/anxiety/trembling with fear
• Uncontrallable crying/hysteria