Regulating Your Child’s Mood
so they can feel more in control of their emotions and gain confidence.
By Brooklyn Storme
H
ere at the practice we receive a high number of referrals from doctors and paediatricians seeking our help in supporting children with emotional, and also behavioural, regulation. Sometimes children and parents don’t know what to expect when coming along to a session so I thought now might be a good time to give you that information.
When you attend counselling for the first time, we will often encourage parents to be present for part of and, sometimes, for all of the initial session. This can help to settle children that might be otherwise nervous or anxious about coming along. It’s helpful for your counsellor to meet you both and to observe how you interact with each other. During that first meeting, we will speak about the reason for referral, provide information about counselling, explain the counselling process, and make a plan to support your child in achieving their goal. Often from there, the counsellor will create a plan that he or she can use to help support your child in addressing their concerns. In subsequent sessions, it is common practice for parents to attend the first few minutes of the session to provide feedback to the therapist about their child’s feelings or behaviour and to update the counsellor on any progress that their child may have made. Often, parents will then leave the session and be invited back in the closing minutes of the session this time for the 36
Peninsula Kids – Autumn 2020