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Child and adolescent mental health
Children and adolescents can experience a range of mental health problems. More than 850,000 children and young people in the UK have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. It is important for all counsellors to be able to recognise the early signs that may accompany the development of these mental health problems and appropriately refer on to other services as required. We share here some guidance and case studies on different mental health conditions which we hope will help your students to approach young clients more effectively and to take the appropriate measures where necessary.
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Are mental health problems in children and young people really a big issue?
In this free chapter, the authors of the forthcoming BACP co-publication Essential Research Findings in Child and Adolescent Counselling and Psychotherapy focus on specific mental health problems which affect young people, exploring how common these are, how these develop, how to measure them, and what kinds of services are able to help.
Case study: Kevin - Depression
Take a look at this case study about 15 year old Kevin who has been encouraged by his youth worker to attend counselling provided by a community provider with close links to the youth service and wider community activity. The youth worker has been concerned about Kevin self-harming and on meeting, it becomes evident that Kevin is deeply troubled and when he rolls up his sleeves, cuts can be seen on both arms.
How should the counsellor proceed?
How Children and Young People May Grieve
Grief is unique to each individual and children and young people are likely to understand death differently at different developmental stages.
In this free extract taken from The Handbook of Counselling Children and Young People contributor Maggie Robson explores how children and young people may grieve and how this can differ depending on age.