What are Some Counseling Techniques for Children?

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When counseling anyone, an effective counselor will come with techniques that will fit and conform the client. With children, it is especially important not to be married to anyone counseling technique for dealing with individuals. To do so is to limit one’s ability to help. Since we are all individuals, we will most likely respond to something uniquely different. Counseling techniques for children must be malleable.

Popular Techniques

Children, generally speaking, are most responsive to environments where they feel safe and trust. This can take some time, which should be understood by parents, care providers, social workers and insurance companies.

There are many times where children are unable to vocally express feelings due to age, cognitive reasoning or trauma. Several techniques have been developed to work with this.

Art Therapy

Art Therapy is one that does not require a lot of talk time. It requires art supplies in abundance and the patience to sit back and let children express themselves. It should be understood that just like the “talking” client who goes for shock or disdain before opening up, so too will the art client; no judgments should be made on art, it is an activity that frees up the mind from holding on to things for a while. Sometimes children will begin to talk when they are more relaxed and working on their art. Other times, after several sessions, a well-trained therapist will see patterns.

However, it’s important to hold off on interpretation of projects. Most new clients are not yet ready to tell you their story, even if they jump in and draw something horrific for their first session. Art therapy is an interpretive therapy and should be just that, a starting place to ask questions. A good therapist will not jump to conclusions over pictures with say…guns.

More Counseling Techniques for Children

Music Therapy has been used successfully for many children as well as adults. The idea is to occupy the mind in a different space, so the client can feel comfortable. If a child is musically inclined or if they just like music, they can make use of instruments or computer programs to make music. The principle is truly similar to art therapy.

Sand Tray is a long used and still useful modality for children. The idea is to have a sand box and many toys, objects, items from seashells to nuts and bolts for children to create a scene in the sand. Some children will talk while placing items, others will not. After the session, a picture is generally taken and a trained therapist will begin to decipher patterns of trust and love as well as unease and fear in what sorts of items are chosen and how they are placed.

Play therapy is something that is very common to use with children in therapy. The idea behind play therapy is to allow the child to direct the play, whether it is board games or puppet shows. Children will tell stories through their play. Think of watching kids with action figures, there is always a story. Very often, children are more comfortable telling their story this way. In this modality, it can be useful to help them invent a new and healthier story in the language they have invented.

Dangerous therapies are sometimes marketed to children and should be something to watch out for. Anytime a therapist or other counseling provider forbids the parent or care provider absolutely from the sessions, especially without explanation or when the child is asking the parent in, one should be concerned.

Also, anything dangerous or forces a response such as the “Re-birth” therapy that was marketed several years ago should be a cause for alarm and you should end the therapy session with that provider. These types of therapies are dangerous at any age and takes advantage of a trust relationship.

Ideally, all therapy should be client driven and the same is true of children. When a client decides what works for them they are more likely to be invested in making it work. The therapist’s job is to help them try new things and find things that work. More and more therapists are making use of this type of Feedback Informed Treatment (F.I.T.) While there is some research showing diminishing returns of F.I.T. in children less than nine years of age, one can argue that it may be due to the inability to report. In any case, a client who is a child should be comfortable, able to trust the therapist and making behavioral changes.

Having many counseling techniques in your portfolio is the best way to work with children since we are all ever-changing creatures.