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Child Counselling
What is Child Therapy?
According to the provincial government, approximately 1 in 5 children and youth in Ontario have a mental health challenge. In addition, about 70% of mental health challenges faced by adults actually have their onset much earlier. That’s why early identification and intervention is so critical and can lead to improved achievement in school and better health outcomes in life.
When children and youth have a physical illness or injury, parents seek professional help to get them the medical attention they need. When children and youth have symptoms of a mental illness, they need their parents to respond and advocate with the same urgency and dedication. While every situation is unique, there are many well-established types of therapy to help young people deal with developmental difficulties, mental health issues and other challenges.
Types of Therapy to Help Children
Psychotherapy is a type of talk therapy that helps individuals explore thoughts and feelings, change behaviours and address problems in their lives. For youth mature enough to articulate and understand complex feelings, traditional talk therapy can be very helpful.
Play therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach primarily used to help younger children, who may have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings verbally. In a safe, comfortable play area, the therapist can observe the child’s choices, decisions and play style. The goal is to help children express difficult thoughts and emotions in healthier ways, and discover new and more positive ways to solve problems.
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a practical, relatively short-term form of psychotherapy, used to help people understand anxious and/or depressed thoughts and feelings. CBT helps children and youth identify thinking errors and negative patterns of thinking. This, in turn, can help change these thoughts and feelings. Part of CBT is “behaviour activation” where the therapist helps kids identify specific small (but important) goals, and work toward meeting those goals. This lets children and youth gradually conquer negative thought patterns, and return to age-appropriate living.
Narrative therapy helps children and youth externalize their problems. The often-quoted maxim of this therapeutic approach is: “The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem.” Externalizing language situates the problem as something that’s outside of the child, rather than internal to himself or herself. Narrating the relationship between the child and the problem in this way distances children from their issues, and allows a light-hearted approach to a situation that is usually treated with extreme seriousness. In this way, the therapist and child manoeuvre round the problem, giving it less space and power in the child’s life.
Take The First Step Of Your Therapy
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending she became a butterfly
– Barbara Haines Howett
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