Counseling For Children: 9 Roles of a Child Counselor

Our little people are so lovely and innocent when they come into the world. A parent would not want to believe that his or child might be struggling in any way emotionally. Sometimes we would want to believe that the world can spare children from its struggles.

However, just like adults, children also go through many different emotions due to the world and environment around them. Being so young, they might not understand what is going on, let alone have the skills needed to cope. This is where counseling for children comes in to help.

Counseling for children or child counseling is a specialized therapeutic intervention that helps children break down their problems and best explain their emotions to a trained professional. Child psychologists, child psychiatrists, child counselors, family therapists, and social workers are some of the professionals that are trained to help children deal with a wide range of challenging emotions or situations.

These professionals provide insight, guidance, and support, not only to the child needing help but the family. They will be equipped with knowledge about their child’s condition and how best to help them.

The roles of a child counselor

Create a safe space.
Children generally find it hard to talk to strangers, especially if those strangers are adults. It’s the job of counselors to create an environment that will make children feel safe and heard.

It is not only the workspace that matters but also their persona. Beyond their professional qualifications, to get children to open up and trust them child counselors should exhibit a welcoming, playful, encouraging, and supportive in their character.

Assess and diagnose.

Using several observation and listening techniques, the counselor must assess children to come up with a diagnosis. Child counselors already have expert knowledge about the developmental trajectory of children and the mental and physical challenges that typically affect children of certain ages. They will make use of different assessment techniques to evaluate how the children they see are fair in comparison.

Plan an individualized treatment course.

Due to a lot of factors, children seeking counseling will present symptoms differently. Their ability to communicate might be different and their ages and maturity levels will vary.

All of this is what makes it important for child counselors to develop an individualized treatment plan that takes into consideration each child’s unique circumstances. Children who are the same age with the same condition may have different treatment plans. All must be done to suit their comfort level for them to feel safe enough to work through their struggles.

Provide professional insight.

It can be hard for parents and guardians to know exactly what their child’s condition is and what possible treatment they might be. Since sometimes parents take their child to the counselor due to mental health issues, the counselor serves them by providing professional insight.

This will help the parents with a safe and confidential space to ask any questions they might have, seek advice on how best to help their child, and understand the treatment course for themselves. This insight helps to alleviate the anxiety and uncertainty that sometimes parents have before consulting with a mental health professional.

Report child abuse.

Like all other professionals that serve children, child counselors have a legal obligation to report child abuse. Unfortunately, some children suffer situations of child abuse that they might not be able to tell their parents. Because some of the mental health and behavioral challenges that children face result from abuse, it is incumbent upon the counselor to report this to the relevant authorities.

Consult with other professionals.

Sometimes children come to see a counselor after they have been referred to them by teachers, social workers, doctors, and religious leaders. They might also refer patients to other professionals like specialist doctors, psychiatrists, or religious leaders. This means that there sometimes is a multi-disciplinary team helping a child depending on the child’s needs.

Work in collaboration with parents and guardians.

Though the child is the one going through counseling, the child counselor keeps the parents abreast of progress, challenges, and treatment adjustments and provides them with skills that might be needed to cope, depending on the child’s struggles.

They will work in collaboration with parents and guardians as they too can offer insight that the professional might need. Sometimes the counselor would request joint sessions with parents and guardians or see them on their own.

Adhere to the code of ethics.

Every professional that works with children is registered with a professional and healthy body. Because of this, their work is overseen by supervisors and other professional body to ensure that they are practicing within the scope and with the right qualifications. This means that their work is governed by a code of ethics that they must follow.

Provide preventative and informative programs for children, parents, and educators.  

Part of a child counselor’s job is to offer capacity development to those people that work and interact with children daily. Most of them will run seminars and programs aimed at continued education for those taking care of children.

These may focus on specialist topics that equip parents, caregivers, youth pastors, social workers, and nurses with all the needed skills and knowledge to ensure the well-being of the children under their care.

Why Do Children Need Counseling?

It may not be easy for parents to take their child to counseling. It is important to note that children’s need for therapy does not reflect on parents’ ability to raise their child. Counseling for children is for a wide range of needs that sometimes over which the child nor the parents might not have control. Below are some reasons why children need counseling and why it is vital to take that first step:

• They have experienced great loss either through the death of a loved one or a pet and need help dealing with grief.
• They come from unstable homes, either those experiencing violence, abuse, untreated mental health problems, or addiction.
• They are being bullied at school or are facing discrimination.
• They suffer from mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, etc.
• They have experienced or witnessed a traumatic situation.
• They are being abused.
• They are struggling to cope with major changes like parents’ divorce, relocation, death of a parent, or remarriage.
• Their school performance starts declining.
• They need help in reaching their developmental goals. This is when it has been assessed that they are lagging and need extra support either mentally, emotionally, socially, or physically.
• They struggle with self-esteem and self-image.
• They have spoken of or made references to suicide.
• They are exhibiting challenging behavioral patterns like fighting, anger outbursts, early onset of drugs and substances, withdrawal, or hypersensitivity.
• They need extra support for anxiety-inducing situations like exams, adoption, being placed in foster homes, or going to a new school.

Types of counseling for children

The type of therapy technique that will be used on each child will depend on his or her age, needs, condition, persona, and developmental abilities. Below is a list of some techniques used by counselors in Christian counseling for children.

• Family therapy.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy.
• Art therapy.
• Play therapy.
• Experiential therapy.
• Trauma-focused therapy.
• Narrative therapy.

Next steps to find support for your child

As much as counseling for children is beneficial, we also understand that it can be daunting for everyone involved. If any of the above has made you want to find out more about counseling for children and what we offer, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our offices. We have trained counselors and therapists that are ready to answer any questions you might have and help you start the process with your child.