Introduction to counselling children and young people. Nicola Heptinstall
Outrageous Liars
About Place2Be Who we are National award-winning charity • • Established in 1994 • Improving children’s mental health and wellbeing What we do • School Based Counselling • Advice and Support for school / community based professionals • Training and Capacity Building Where we work • 20 areas across UK • 75,000 children in 200 schools • 20,000 children reached through training
Why Place2Be is needed • Over 1 million children in the UK have a mental health problem • Nearly half of young people with mental health problems drop out of full time education by age 15 • Over 90% of young offenders had a mental health problem in childhood • 1 in 6 adults have a mental health problem • The World Health Organisation predicts that depression will be the 2nd largest killer of all parents by 2020 • Adult Mental Health problems cost UK economy £105 billion per year
Aims of The Day • Examine the differences between counselling adults and children • Experience the power of images and metaphors as containers of conscious and unconscious experiences and feelings • Develop an understanding of the value of images and metaphors in the therapeutic process as a way of exploring emotions and thoughts at a symbolic level and the importance of keeping aesthetic distance • Experience joining play through the metaphor and reflecting on the impact upon yourselves
Sub-Aims to hold in mind • How do I respond to each type of material? • How does my own childhood experience influence how I build relationships with children? • How does my style as a counsellor impact on what I take to a child based therapeutic relationship?
Structure of the day 9.30 – start 11.00 – 11.15 tea /coffee 1.00 – 2.00 lunch 3.00 – 3.15 tea / coffee 4.30 - finish
Group Agreement • Confidentiality • Valuing each individuals knowledge and experience • Speaking from the ‘ I ‘ • Personal responsibility for what one shares in the group • Time boundaries • Mobiles off – unless waiting for urgent call, if so to inform group
Differences & similarities ? • Divide into three groups. • Each to spend 5 minutes brainstorming the differences and the similarities between counselling children and counselling adults – record each idea on a post-it. • Display post-its on flipchart – to be shared with the wider group
Break time Tea / coffee time – back in 15 minutes!
The Importance of Play • Making sense of the world is an enormous task for children • Children are often less able to find words to express thoughts and feelings, play is of crucial significance • Children are often at risk of being overwhelmed by feelings or events; solitary play can play a vital part here. Children use play to help them come to terms with difficult events. • As adults we use ‘play’ to make sense of things we don’t understand
Sensory Play
Projective Play
Dramatic play and role play
Story Telling
How it works "Children playing in therapy create a symbolic or metaphoric world where the power to change or reconstruct events belong to the children. In this play space the children make acts of representation through which they can interpret or re-interpret their own experiences by playing imaginary worlds.“ Cattanach, A. (1992). Play Therapy with Abused Children. London: Jessica Kingsley.
What we do • Listening • Image Making • Joining with Metaphor • Joining with Projective Play • Joining with Sensory Play
How does this lead to change? • Allows children to “reframe” their experience • Enables them to take responsibility for their behaviour in context • They can safely replay experience both traumatic and formative • Benefits of attachment – influencing their “internal working model” (Bowlby et al)
Case Study Macy was struggling to cope with her parents' separation. The separation had been very visible to the children and their father had verbally blamed the children for not seeing him. This was very difficult for a 10 year old girl to comprehend, so Macy potentially carried this blame and withdrew from her classmates. Macy is beginning to explore her confused feelings towards her dad through the art making process, often depicting devils. She also regularly uses fantasy in the sessions as a way of coping. Her teacher has reported that Macy seems much more settled and has made a friend in her class.
Any Questions?
Lunchtime Back in an hour
Images Game
Metaphor • There are many forms of metaphor that exist in the counselling room – including verbal ones • The purpose of therapy is not to bring the metaphor in to conscious awareness although this may happen • If the meanings within metaphor remain outside of both the counsellors and the child's awareness it is still “working”
Drawing on your existing Skills • Listening • Reflecting • Observing • Questioning • Offering the core conditions
Story Structure • A central character/hero or heroine set in a context. • What is he/she searching for in life? • Who is the friend or helper of the main character? • What obstacles lie in the way of the achievement of their goal? • What strategies do they use to overcome these obstacles? • What happens next? What is the resolution?
Case Study • Lara, a 12 year old girl used a series of pictures to develop her own story and express her feelings. Her pictures were metaphors told through favourite TV series' characters with themes of strength and heroes. • Lara had been referred with a history of domestic violence in the family, low self-esteem and depression. Her stories seemed to empower her and one week she said, "Every picture tells a story." At a later stage in her counselling she was more able to speak of her feelings directly, particularly of anger. She wanted to be like one of her favourite animal characters, linking this to her hidden anger and feeling unnoticed. She said that in the Place2Be room she is not angry, as it is "my world". She was enabled to express anger at times in a way that she seemed to feel was manageable and accepted in her "world" of the session.
Final Thoughts • Examining your own experience of play and childhood • Observing your own relationship with these creative materials • Practical considerations – what materials should I have in the room and how do I deploy them?
Next time • Detailed focus on attachment theory and its relevance • Contracting & boundaries • Supervision – observations & reflections • Endings • Further skills practice
Thank You Any Questions
Endings • Acknowledging & talking about the ending with children in advance • Think ahead with the child about how they might deal with the ending • Acknowledge the child’s feelings around endings • Ritualise endings by making cards, stories, celebrations • Celebrate achievements & the relationship
Supervision reflection • What does this mean for them? • What does this mean for me? • How does this impact the therapeutic relationship? • How do I continue to work with this?
Internal Working Model I am safe and I am not sure Go away! Leave lovable. I know me alone. I don’t what is going where to go for to happen next need you and I help if I need it. and I’m don’t care about The world is a worried. I anything or mostly safe place might tell you anybody. If you to go away but come too close or if I’m in danger I be very clingy. might lash out. Relationships can Relationships are Relationships are be great but they great. way too unreliable can be horrible as and are sometimes well. You just downright never know. dangerous.
What the counsellor holds in mind • How does the child relate to the counsellor? Are we controlled; ignored; looked after; attacked? • How do they use the materials? Are some avoided? Is there contact and absorption, or no connection? • How do they play – freely, without inhibition? Fearfully? Carefully? With violence? Organised or disorganised? • What are the themes that arise? • How do they enter and leave the room? • How do they hear what the therapist says?
Types of attachment I am not sure I am safe and Go away! Leave what is going lovable. I know me alone. I don’t to happen next where to go for need you and I and I’m help if I need it. don’t care about worried. I The world is a anything or might tell you mostly safe place anybody. If you to go away but come too close or be very clingy. if I’m in danger I might lash out. Anxious Anxious avoidant Secure ambivalent
Dangers • Reactivation of issues • Colluding with disassociation tendencies • Managing boundaries and contract • Over attachment • Vicarious traumatisation • Ending the work All for supervision
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