Diploma in Child and Adolescent Counselling

The 10 Child Counselling Course Modules

1. Welcome

• Welcome
• Goals for counselling children
• The difference between counselling children and adults.
• Listening skills. Being non judgemental. Probing. Helping children to speak about feelings.
• Questions
• Challenging the client
• Body language
• Behavioural modification. Can you change a client’s mind? Giving advice. Imposing your opinion. The need for the client to arrive at their own decision.

2. The counselling relationship

• The therapeutic relationship. Building a working alliance .
• Being culturally responsive
• How it feels to be a child
• Understanding and working with children 4-11
• Understanding and working with adolescents.
• Youth culture and alienation.
• Working with challenging behaviour
• Gaining informed consent. Parental consent.
• Confidentiality with a young person.

3. Theories of how children develop

• Human growth and development – Attachment (ANT) theory. Secure and insecure attachment. The role of love in growth and development of identity.
• Maternal deprivation.
• Theories of self. Rogers.
• True and false self. Winnicott.
• Child psychosocial development – Erikson
• Role models
• Transactional analysis
• The future role of neuroscience in counselling

4. Ethical, legal and professional issues

• Child protection. Boundaries. Inappropriate relationships. Transference. Countertransference.
• Ethical considerations and the law. Children Act 1999. Police clearance.
• Supervision and self supervision
• Keeping a log, journal.
• Endings. Terminating the counselling. Grounded endings.
• Working with peers, other professionals and groups
• Research – evidence based practice issues.
• Contexts where counselling is delivered: school counselling, community counselling.

5. Methods, Solutions and Tools

• Cognitive-behavioural counselling theory. Cognitive re-structuring. Skill building interventions
• The Systemic approach
• Narrative approaches
• Solution focussed (SF) brief therapy with children and young people. Berg, de Shazer.

6. Specific youth concerns. How to help them.

• Psychopathology
• Family problems: parents and siblings. Sibling rivalry.
• Divorce
• Adolescent development. Puberty. Body image.
• Gender orientation. Homosexuality. Sexual abuse.
• Mental health issues.
• Autism, Asperger’s, Dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
• The bereaved child and grief.

7. Other youth issues

• Phobias.
• School phobia. Classroom issues.
• Bedwetting
• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa.
• Self-harm
• Behaviour issues. ADHD
• Aggression and anger
• Bullying. The bully.
• Vocational issues
• Problematic peer relationships
• Counselling abused young people
• Psychopharmacology

8. Counselling Tools

• Play therapy. Axline.
• Art therapy
• Dance therapy
• Story telling. Metaphor.
• Sandtray. Dora Kalff .
• Drama therapy.
• Life Story books : Life story and context of a child

9. Working in child counselling

• Not everyone who studies child counselling works specifically as a child counsellor. They might be a teacher, teaching assistant, social worker, police officer, or probation officer.Or you might work in a charity, either as a volunteer or paid professional. Equally you might be a clerical or admin person in health or education.Many professions require their staff to have an insight into the problems that affect children and adolescents. And child protection has risen in importance in recent years.
• Working full time as a counsellor or as part of another job
• Child counselling in voluntary and charity work
• Child counselling in education
• Child counselling in healthcare and social service
• Child counselling in private practice
• Using your skills in other areas such as police, prison or as a parent.
• Getting a DBS

10 Next Steps

• Learn what to do, once you’ve completed the course.