Another step in the process for youth counseling is learning the words to verbalize their emotions. Letting the mind use creativity to search for its own words to describe an experience gives us a powerful sense of autonomy and mastery of any experience. In the same vein, a child must feel and know that their words matter in order for them to develop and internal sense of power to be heard.

Something useful to know is that I focus on the parent-child relationship when counseling children because helping the parent also helps the child. And, when sessions are no longer needed, the parent continues on in the work with their child.

The inclusion of parents is part of the process but not the whole process. Working with the child directly is also important to help them learn to process stressors on their level. Stress rolls downhill, so even though children don’t create stress the way adults can, they do receive the brunt of the snowball from it. Something that might seem insignificant could actually be deeply wounding for a child. In addition to the common stressors and youth trauma of bullying, discrimination, and being ostracized by peer groups, nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S. annually according to The National Children’s Alliance.

For these reasons, validating a child’s boundaries is a vital part of therapy for children. It empowers them. When we respect the autonomy of a child’s choice, they expect the same from others. Delayed gratification and medication are also addressed in child therapy. Together, these components assist in helping children process and verbalize their emotions bringing them into greater emotional wellness and healing.