child
3 to 11 years
While it is parents, teachers and caregivers who may notice that a child needs help (usually based on visible issues like temperamental behaviour, disobedience, social awkwardness, shyness, inattentiveness, restlessness, aggression, academic difficulties and so on), it is through the child that we can discover underlying and often unseen causes. In client-led therapy, it is important to identify the client and if the client is the child, his/her perspective is as critical as an adult’s. The family unit is all-important for an individual in the age group of 3 to 11 years. Understanding family dynamics from an impartial and analytical stand point is crucial.
In an accepting environment through creative and expressive therapies, the family works collaboratively to cope with deep-rooted causes, rather than symptoms. The idea is not limited to extinguishing symptoms, but to find out what maintains difficult behaviours, help the client identify triggers and react to causes in more positive ways. The therapeutic roadmap varies from case to case, and with neuropsychological or serious trauma cases (physical/ emotional/ sexual abuse or neglect), a combination of psychiatric and psychological interventions may be essential.
therapeutic modalities
The focus is on strength-based interventions — to enable the client to function better and build resilience in the face of triggers and causes that often cannot be removed from one’s environment. A combination of therapeutic modalities works in various stages of the journey.
- Creative Therapy (Art and Play based)
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Solution Focussed Brief Therapy
- Mindfulness-based Therapy
- Grief and Loss
- Family Therapy
assessment capacity
Psychosocial Assessments
- Whole Family Functioning Assessment
- Parenting Capacity Assessment
- Foster Care/ Adoption Assessment
- Suicide Risk Assessment and Mental Health Assessment
Developmental Assessments
- Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2)
- Autism Diagnostic Interview (Revised) (ADI-R)
- Bayleys-III Infant Development Scales
Psychometric Assessments
- Stanford-Binet-V
- WPPSI- III
- WISC-IV
- WIAT-III
- WAIS
what to
expect
Legal Forms
Confidentiality and counselling agreement
The focus is on strength-based interventions — to enable the client to function better and build resilience in the face of triggers and causes that often cannot be removed from one’s environment. A combination of therapeutic modalities works in various stages of the journey.
Intake Form
Bio-psychosocial information to ascertain case background
The information you disclose in your intake form helps the psychologist develop a better understanding of the biological, social and enviromental factors that have shaped your developmental history. The document is protected under psychologist-client confidentiality terms.
Gauging the Situation
The first couple of meetings will be focussed on gaining a detailed understanding of the client’s concerns in terms of their particular situation, background, problems, strengths and potential. This process is necessary as it allows the psychologist to create a good fit between the client and the type of therapy. The psychologist and the client will thereafter collaboratively work on an approach that resonates with the client’s needs.
Building Resilience
A regular session lasts 60 minutes, during which the client is free to talk about present concerns. The conversation is primarily client-led, moderated closely to help the client reflect on the meaning/significance of their emotions, behaviour or thinking. Certain sessions are skill-based, depending on the type of therapy applied.
Therapeutic Schedule and Termination
Therapy at the best of times isn’t a linear process. The length of time that one devotes to therapy depends on the individual and their needs. For a singlular or well defined concern with relatively straightforward causes, shorter-term therapy, in the range of 6–12 sessions, is likely to be a reasonable length of time.
However, for clients who would like to address entrenched patterns with more complex causes, it may be helpful to attend therapy for a longer period of time.
Many people attend therapy not to address problems, but to facilitate their growth, well-being or effectiveness, and/or to reflect on their life and steer it in valued directions. In this case, the time that you spend in therapy depends on you and your goals.
Routine breaks in therapy after the first 10 weeks are recommended. After an initial period of weekly sessions, depending on the client and their progress, the psychologist might meet the client fortnightly and then on a ‘need’ basis only.
As the client and the psychologist discuss goals and objectives for therapy and review the process, the client is encouraged to talk about a flexible time frame that might be suitable to their needs.