Children’s & Teenager’s Counselling

Therapy for children is different to adults because young people communicate in different ways and won’t usually sit and engage in straight talk therapy. Many children under 13 will not really use words to describe painful emotional issues and will show how they’re feeling to their therapist through different forms of play and creative activity.

Child Therapy

Child therapy mainly centres around play therapy, which combines exploring and communicating through play with verbal counselling skills. A therapist will use tools like storytelling, role play, miniature animals/figures, sand tray, drawing and painting.

The goals of therapy are to enable the child to explore their situation/experience in terms of thoughts, feeling & behaviours, to help them figure out their strengths and limitations and to change the behaviours that may be having negative consequences.

We believe that the relationship between the child and the child therapist is vital to giving the young person a positive, empowering experience and to help them bring about therapeutic change. We deal with a range of issues for children including anxiety/worries, health issues, family difficulties, bullying, challenges at school and more.

Counselling for Teenagers

Working with teenagers is different to either adults or children although the aim of building an empathetic, genuine relationship with a therapist remains the same. Adolescents can engage in a combination of talk and creative therapies depending on the skills and preferences of the teenager. 

We deal with a range of issues that can affect teenagers including bullying, fitting in at school, study, pressure from social media, friends, exams, family issues, relationships, sexuality/identity, grief/loss, change in their lives and more.

Most teenagers will have weekly sessions with one of our therapists, and their parents or caregivers usually attend for the first session and at intervals thereafter depending on the wishes of the young person. 

The aim is to help them to identify their thoughts, feelings and behaviours around what is going on for them and to work together to practice new ways of handling their problems. Teens can respond well to CBT-based therapies depending on what is going on for them.

The First Step…

BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

If you wish to book a session with Maynooth Counselling & Psychotherapy, please click below to get started. We look forward to hearing from you.