HOLISTIC COUNSELLING

Counselling with young children has inevitably presented inherent challenges. Children very often lack the cognitive understanding of why they feel 'bad' or 'all wrong' and then the linguistic ability, or the emotional literacy to be able to express how that is.

So how do we explore this in a safe, non threatening way for the child?

Within the framework of Holistic Educational Therapy, a number of approaches are explored, which include a process of art therapy known as the 'Pattern'. This looks at defining a child's individual learning personality profile and is very helpful in looking at how to design learning tasks and projects for the individual child to manage, in their own personality style.

 

The way in which an individual goes about completing the pattern and the colours that they choose can give an interpretation into their respective learning personality.

Also a psychotherapeutic tool, adapted to form the story of 'Willow and his helpers'. This is a safe and fun, one step removed approach to identifying and working with the underlying issues, factors, traumas and perceptions that can underpin behavioural triggers.

A picture produced by a child having gone through the 'Willow and his  helpers' story. The picture can be interpreted from what the child has seen in the picture and coloured in and the colours used and the comments made at the time. This process gives insight into the child's perceptions of what is predominant in his / her life at that time.