Childrens Therapy & Youth Counselling | Four Seasons Counselling

Our Children’s Therapy & Counselling Services Help Amazing Kids Become Amazing Adults!

The transition between childhood and adulthood can be rocky. With the right help, we can help your child navigate these challenges with strength, courage and confidence!

Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy | Four Seasons Counselling

Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

As children and teenagers grow, they may struggle with a variety of challenges at home and school such as anxiety, depression, behavioural issues, social difficulties, self-esteem problems, academic challenges, trauma, and other emotional and psychological difficulties. These challenges can get in the way of their overall development. Through child and adolescent psychotherapy, young individuals between the ages of 5 and 18, are empowered to better understand their emotions, how their bodies respond to emotions, and develop healthier ways of coping with life’s challenges. We aim to create treatment experiences that are engaging and effective by using a combination of talk therapy and play therapy techniques. Psychotherapy can also be a helpful tool when just looking to better understand our own internal system, and work through emotions. This can help us develop coping strategies and learn to regulate emotions.

Our goal is to support young people’s emotional well-being and foster positive growth!

Play Therapy for Children & Youth Counselling | Four Seasons Counselling

What is Play Therapy?

Play therapy is a method of therapy that uses play as a means of communication and expression for children, typically between the ages of 5 and 12. Play is a vital aspect of a child’s development and can be used as a therapeutic tool. It provides a therapeutic space where the child can work through challenges and gain a better understanding of themselves and their experiences.

Play therapy helps children communicate and explore their inner world and gain a sense of mastery over difficult experiences. It assists children in expressing their thoughts and feelings non-verbally.

Play therapy can be beneficial for children facing a range of emotional and behavioural difficulties, such as trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, aggression, and social issues. It allows children to express themselves in a way that feels natural and comfortable, while they explore their emotions.

Children's Therapy & Youth Counselling Services | Four Seasons Counselling

Just a Few of the Areas That Our Children’s Therapy & Youth Counselling Services Can Help With …

ADHD/ADD

Parenting a child with ADHD is very different from parenting a child without. When we think of the strategies and basics of parenting, we think of rules, routines, reinforcement, and consequences. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, different approaches are needed as it can be challenging when coping with some of these behaviours. Self-doubt can creep in for parents, who are trying their best to support a child with ADHD, but sometimes to no avail. But their brains are wired differently, and impulse control is minimal.

That’s where being educated around behaviour management can be helpful. First deciding which behaviours are acceptable and which are not, and then utilizing a number of strategies using reinforcement and consequences helps your child to understand and work on controlling impulses to avoid consequences (natural or imposed).

Something to remember: ADHD children require structure, tasks that are in manageable pieces, organization, limited distractions, regulated sleep, exercise and the encouragement of out-loud thinking…. And so many more “do’s”. But just as important is not to neglect your needs as parents!

Exposure to Conflict

What we know about violence, is that no matter what age you are, it’s scary! Children being so vulnerable have difficulty understanding what is going on, feel fear, anxiety, feel constantly on guard and helpless because they can’t control what is going on in their environment. Some of the symptoms include:

Increased crying and whining
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Show signs of terror – such as stuttering or hiding
Signs of severe separation anxiety
Feel guilt about the abuse and blame themselves
Low self-esteem
Educational effects
Strained relationships
Fewer friends at school
Headaches, stomach aches
Get into trouble more at school
Skipping school
High risk behaviours such as having unprotected sex, using substances
Bully others
Start fights
Get in trouble with the law
Experience other health problems such as mental health issues, anxiety and depression
Perfectionism

Children are therefore at a greater risk of being in violent relationships in their future, as they have been forced to develop coping strategies to negotiate that environment.

Something to remember: Children have normalized their experience of the violence, and then actually seek out relationships because it’s an environment that they know how to manage in. Therefore, the areas that can support recovery include having a good support system, good relationships with trusted adults, increasing their self-esteem and encouraging healthy friendships.

What helps?

Talking to them about their fears
Helping them feel safe
Talking about healthy relationships
Helping them find a reliable support system
Teaching them about healthy boundaries

Separation & Divorce

“We never put the children in the middle”. So often parents report this to professionals when working to negotiate the dissolution of a marriage. Yet, intentionally or unintentionally, parents in fact do place their children in the middle. For example, asking children to pass messages because of challenges in communication between the adults and hoping that the message coming from the child will lead to a different result. Unfortunately, children become very uncomfortable and even anxious when they become the shuttle between the parents.
What is common for children, is to stop sharing with each parent what happens in each of the homes. Children develop protective strategies, especially when there is heightened anger and animosity between parents. Children learn that if they have fun with one parent, the other parent is not prepared to hear it and place judgement and unhappiness towards the child.
Something to remember: Children are made up of both parents. If one parent expresses hatred towards the other parent, a child experiences that that parent hates part of them.

Eating Issues

Eating disorders serve as coping mechanisms. They are disrupted eating habits, extreme concern or distress about body shape/weight. They are a range of illnesses that involve a preoccupation with food, weight and appearance. They interrupt daily life, health, education, familial and social relationships.

The causes are not direct, but rather include components of biology, environment, social and psychological factors. We have no control of certain factors such as genetics, brain and hormone functioning, but can consider and support some psychological and sociocultural factors. These disorders often occur in adolescence, school transitions (i.e start of a school year, new school etc.), changes in relationships (i.e. divorcing parents, break up of a romantic relationship) or relocating or changing jobs.

Food can become a temporary relief from feelings of loneliness, inadequacy, coping with anxiety, as well as hormonal changes. It’s important to:

Find support to identify triggers
Learn and replace negative eating behaviour with healthier ways to manage emotions
Shift negative thought patterns to positive ones

Something to remember: Food consumption can be like a drug that has temporary relieving effects. Food avoidance or overconsumption can be a way to feel in control.

Our Holistic Approach

Our team also provide support concurrently for parents, in order to provide a holistic approach. Parenting is rewarding and also a labour of love. We will support you as parents with the ups and downs to support your child’s health, positive functioning and well-being.

How to Explain Therapy to Your Child?

Some parents find it difficult to explain therapy to their child. When discussing why therapy would be supportive and helpful, it is important to emphasize its purpose and benefit while also reassuring them that therapy is not a punishment; but rather a safe and supportive space for them. It is essential to convey that therapy is not to fix something that is wrong with them, and that it is about helping them with what they are experiencing and better understanding themselves. Having this conversation with your child would lay the foundation for a positive and productive therapeutic experience.

Let Us Help You Find Your Summer

If you’re struggling to deal with life’s challenges, you’re not alone and there’s no need to feel ashamed or embarrassed. All people – and especially women – go through different phases of life. Life naturally presents us with challenges and obstacles, whether to do with our work, our families and friends, our relationships and even internal struggles with ourselves.

We help people explore and understand the problems that they face. By developing the right mindset and tools for articulating their feelings and having their voices heard, they are empowered to face and overcome their challenges.

Using their newfound confidence, courage and bravery, they emerge from their winter, through a spring season marked by personal growth, and into the joys and happiness of summer.

We’re ready to help you find your summer. Let’s connect and get started.

Let’s Get Started!