Kids and Adolescents

WE WORK WITH KIDS AND TEENAGERS IN DIFFERENT WAY TO HOW WE WORK WITH ADULTS.

Kids tend to get bored with sitting still and talking about themselves and their feelings pretty fast. We teach emotional regulation 101 – how to notice your body’s reactions to stress, express yourself (words rather than actions is super handy) and how NOT to flip your lid. We also like to have a bit of fun during therapy – it doesn’t need to be serious all of the time, and we are still kicking goals. Children often express themselves best when engaging in play therapy which could include making craft, playing a board game, drawing a picture, building lego or getting elbow deep in sand. Play therapy can assist kids to recognise, identify, and verbalise feelings, teach social interaction and manage conflicts with books, dolls, dance, music, or puppets. The more comfortable the young person feels, the better they will be able to tell their stories, voice their feelings and work together to develop resilience and change. We can support parent child interactions, attachment, behaviours and also undertake family-based therapy to strengthen the family unit. Therapies for teens may include teaching stress management skills, helping to identify helpful and unhelpful behaviours, and improve insight and self-esteem.

More of what we can do is listed here:

  • Improving social interaction and making friends

  • Resilience building (battling bullies) and assertiveness

  • Effective behaviour strategies (we won’t teach you how to parent your kids, you know them best. We can, however, help you implement behaviour strategies/interventions)

  • Helping with concentration and attention

  • Anger Management (flipping your lid)

  • Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (linked to ADHD)

  • Self-harm, risky behaviours, and suicidal thoughts

  • Anxiety and Depression

  • Pathological Demand Avoidance (linked to ASD)

  • Relationships in families

Outside of the traditional work we do with kids and teens, we also treat trauma. We’ve found that childhood and adolescent anxiety usually has a base in earlier memories and EMDR is a great therapy to use for these presentations. Phobias, worries, judgement from others, avoidance, depression, and trauma presentations may also be able to be treated with EMDR. We utilise many child friendly EMDR resources such as a Social Story book introducing EMDR, picture cards outlining positive and negative thoughts, Ana Gomez’s Thought Kit for Kids, electronic sounds, buzzies (neurotek and bi-tapp), and puppets for the side-to-side eye movements. We also try to involve parents and carers where appropriate, as this may offer a sense of attachment and also desensitise everyday triggers such as “No”.

When we are working with children and adolescents, your confidentiality is always fundamental and respected. We are legally and ethically bound to keep you safe, so if you tell us you are in danger, at risk of harm, going to steal a bus or rob a bank, we will need to tell someone about this to keep you safe.

Often it is helpful for parents or caregivers to know how they can best support, so we encourage their attendance for some sessions or part of the sessions. AWI Consulting clinicians work in the best interests of the child. Your clinician will be able to clarify any questions you have about confidentiality in your first session.