Children counselling
Women’s Health and Wellbeing services is pleased to announce that we are now offering a limited number of appointments for children’s counselling. Sessions are available for children from 3 to 12 years of age.
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Childhood is a time of great change and transition, often presenting a unique set of challenges for both parent and child. Sometimes development occurs smoothly and at other times things occur that lead to children experiencing dysfunction in their life, resulting in this journey feeling overwhelming.
Children can often take time to learn the art of self-regulation and can struggle with big emotions and the ability to articulate the complexity of what they are feeling. Parents often experience their child expressing their distress in worrying ways which is a tough place to be in.
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The wonderful thing is that children are very receptive to learning and change and research shows that “the earlier the intervention the more positive impact on the personality and the individual’s overall health.” Therapists at Women’s Health will work together with the parent and child to develop an understanding of what is going on, and then to develop a roadmap to help you and your child move forward with a sense of being held and supported.
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What issues do we cover?
Our sessions focus on the treatment of a range of childhood disorders and issues including:
• socio-emotional difficulties
• bullying
• sibling conflict
• anxiety
• depression
• trauma related symptoms
• grief and loss due to bereavement, separation or divorce
• the facilitation of a healthy parent-child attachment relationship.
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Please note that we are not providing diagnostic assessments for children.
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What can you expect?
During your first appointment, your Therapist will spend some time talking to the parent or caregiver. They will also spend time with your child getting to know them and developing an understanding of their worries or concerns, as well as what they would like to be different in their life.
Based on these discussions, clear and attainable goals will be set. Your therapist will then recommend a therapy approach that is most suitable for your situation and is based on current scientific evidence of what is most likely to be effective for your child.
While sessions may involve working predominantly with the child, we also aim to communicate strategies with parents that can be implemented immediately to integrate changes into the child’s home and school life. Parent consults are also available.
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What is a parent consult?
Parent consults are for feedback on the process of therapy with your child.
Because we view the family as a system, where appropriate, parent consults are part of the process where we offer parent support as appropriate/required e.g. for behaviour management in the home, activities to support therapy. The parent consults are a full 50min without the child being present. The cost is $133.25 and can be subsidised.
What is the difference between a triage call and a Parent consult?
The triage takes 30min over the phone and is done at the start of the therapeutic process and does not have a cost. This is to gain information about your child and why they needing to access our services. Parent consults can happen at any time during the therapeutic process where parent support is appropriate/required. The parent consults are a full 50min without the child being present. The cost is $137.45 and can be subsidised.
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Fees?
Counselling services at Women’s Health and Wellbeing services costs:
- $143.25 individual (up to $90 gap)
Please see our counselling referral page for fee information
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For more information or to access these services you can either call (08) 9490 2258 or click on the button below to be redirected to our counselling referral form. Once you have completed the form and clicked submit, a member of staff will contact you within 2 business days with a suggested time and date for a telephone appointment/assessment with our Therapeutic Administration Officer. This allows you to be added to our waitlist and ensures you are allocated to the correct counsellor to suit your needs.
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If you do not receive contact with anyone within this time frame please call us on (08) 9490 2258.
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Reference (Adler-Tapia & Settle, 2017, p. 4)