What is child/teen counseling?
Child/teen counseling is a type of therapy that focuses on young children, teens, and adolescents with mental health struggles. Counseling provides aid to youths in a variety of areas including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, behavioral concerns, self-esteem, identity formation, maladaptive sexual behaviors, youth who have experienced trauma, and/or who are experiencing a dysfunctional or stressful home environment. Child/teen counseling services are tailored to each youth’s developmental level and intellectual capacity in an attempt to break down problems into manageable parts, so children can better understand, cope, and work towards progress.
Many of the issues children/teens face mimic the issues adults face in their lives. Keeping the family system of a youth involved and engaged during the therapeutic process can enhance the youth’s ability to integrate the knowledge they are learning in therapy into long lasting change in their day-to-day lives. When working with youth, child/teen counselors will often (if appropriate) check in with caregivers and encourage an ongoing dialogue to support the youth in manifesting the changes/improvements that are desired.
Telehealth and Teen/Child Counseling
Integrating Telehealth services with children/teens can be challenging. When providing Telehealth services, counselors strive to create a private and safe environment for clients to be able to freely explore and express their feelings. Youth often need the assistance from their caregivers in setting up such an environment. Helping set up an area (that is private and has a good internet connection) where a child can feel consistently safe to explore their feelings during therapy time can be essential in their ability to engage and buy into the therapeutic process.