Is your child struggling with behavioral problems or emotional difficulties?

Is your child:
Affected by –
• Grief & loss due to death, divorce or separation
• Changes such as relocation, school, or family structure
• Trauma, such as an accident, extended hospitalisation or any form of abuse
• Chronic illness of self or family members
• Social and/or behavioural difficulties at school
• Behavioural difficulties at home
• Violence and aggression
• Anxiety and/or depression
• Feeling overly worried or anxious?
• Hitting, fighting or having problems making friends?
• Showing poor results at school, below his/her capacities?
• Other factors causing concern

As a parent, are you worried or at your wits end?
As a parent, are you:
• Upset with your child’s behaviors or mood?
• At a loss and frustrated with your child’s academic performance?
• Doubting your skills as a parent?
• Worried about your child social skills and behaviors at school?

Being a parent myself - I understand that that parenting can be challenging. At times it can be overwhelming and many things can destabilize a child.
Each child is unique and there are numerous reasons why a child may function below his or her capacities and may feel overwhelmed by life.
Significant stressful life events such as divorce, trauma or illness can lead to behavior problems, anxiety, tantrums or depression in your child. However, less stressful events such as; the birth of a sibling, moving to a new school or tension between parents can also have a negative impact.
Please try to remember that each child is unique and that he or she will respond to life events in his or her own unique ways.

Family Counselling, Art and Play therapy can help you and your child!

Through Art and Play therapy your child can experience:
• A raise in self-esteem
• An improvement in social skills and relationships with peers
• An increase in academic performance
• A reduction or elimination of the unwanted behaviors
Through family counselling or parent coaching, you can experience:
• An increase in your and your child’s ability to communicate
• Being better equipped in dealing with your child’s behaviors or moods
• Feeling more in control of yourself and less triggered by your child’s behavior
• Becoming a more effective parent

A bit about my approach with Children & Adolescents.

One of my real passions in counselling is working therapeutically with Children & Adolescents!

I believe that working effectively with children requires meeting them exactly where they are at. Expecting that children will talk about their issues, the way adults do, more often than not leads to unproductive counselling.
Children naturally use play to communicate what is troubling them and they do so at their own pace.
I make every effort to meet and engage with my little clients in their world, to tap into my own playfulness and inner child and to foster the use of creative strategies as a form of expression and communication.
Sometimes a child may re-enact or play out traumatic or difficult life experiences over and over in order to make sense of his or her past. Use of creative therapies with children allows them to re-access their resources and strengths and cope better with their present and future.
Art Therapy, like Play Therapy, is a creative and child-centered approach. Creative Strategies allow a child or adolescent to express, communicate and work through their feelings. Art Therapy can include verbal processing or sometimes not, depending on each individual child or adolescent needs.

Please call today on 3808 6633 - to arrange a no-charge obligation free fifteen minute consultation with me. We will discuss the issues that bring you to counselling and explore how we can work together to solve them.