COUNSELLING CHILDREN BPS218

Learn strategies for working with and listening to children

Useful for counsellors, teachers and teacher aides, and other professionals working in child-centric industries.

Children face many challenges in their everyday lives, from bullying and school-related issues through to divorce and death of a loved one. Unlike adult clients, however, children are still developing and learning. Working with children require slistening and working together in the context of their development, environmental factors, and more.

In this course, you'll study common childhood disorders, counselling approaches, and developmental factors influencing each.

 

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

This course is broken up into nine lessons as follows:

  1. Introduction to Types & Causes of Childhood Problems
  2. Assessment of Childhood Problems (including ethical/legal considerations)
  3. Counselling for Internalising Problems & Disorders I: Anxiety
  4. Counselling for Internalising Problems & Disorders II: Depression
  5. Counselling for Externalising Problems & Disorders III: Eating Disorders
  6. Counselling for Externalising Problems & Disorders IV: Conduct Disorders
  7. Counselling for Other Problems & Disorders
  8. Other Counselling Approaches
  9. Problem based learning

 

Course Duration - 100 hours

 

Assessing Children

It is important for a child counsellor to understand how to assess a child and his or her environment and other contributing factors. Assessing mental health in children is different to assessing adults. Assessment of childhood disorders takes into account the child's current developmental level, their past development, and whatever problem(s) they are presenting with. The assessment process for children is also different to adults because with children you need to gather information from other people.

It is always necessary to have parents or guardians attend the assessment interview. If there are brothers and sisters, then it is also helpful to have them attend too if possible. With younger children, you will most likely interview the child and parents together at the first interview. With adolescents, you will often see the child first and then see them together with their parents later. With children under the age of about 6 years you will most likely see them with their parents each time.

For school-age children it is also very helpful to have reports from teachers. They spend time with the child every day and can provide valuable insights into their behaviour, their achievements and relationships with other children. Of course, you need to get permission from the parents to do this, and you should always express gratitude for their time.

Depending on the nature of the problem, it may also be necessary to interview or seek information from other people who have close contact with the child. These can include other professionals such as pediatricians or the child's regular doctors, as well as other family members like grandparents or aunts and uncles, or close friends of the child.

 

Learn ways of counselling children with internalising or externalising problems

  • This is a must-do course for all those interested in counselling children.
  • Learn about approaches to counselling children.
  • Study and understand different childhood disorders and how they might have evolved.
  • Complete a Problem Based Learning Project where you will put into practice what you have learned in the course.

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