At the start of any counselling journey with minors it’s important to set goals and have clarity on how these can be achieved. Geldard et al., (2013) idedntified four different levels of goal setting, fundamental goals, parental goals, counsellor goals and the child’s goals. Stallard, (2005) informs us that one of the key tasks at the beginning of therapy with a child, its important to ascertain if they have any issues they would like to address or whether they have goals they would like to accomplish. The Stages of Change model (Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992) gives us a framework conceptualising modification as a process rather than a dichotomous decision. The framework is utilised to assess where the child is in the cycle of change and helps inform the therapeutic focus.
Throughout history there have been a number of …show more content…
Centering on interventions which are primarily psychoeducational and interventions which develop a particular skill set to help the child cope. Along with interventions that help the child identify and test general dysfunctional behaviours and thoughts. Thus helping the child prepare and manage any potential relapse (Stallard, 2005). In the authors experience there is an argument as to whether CBT is suitable for children and whether they have the cognition to actively partcipate in same. Stallard, (2005) states that there is a requirement to adapt cognitive behavioural therapy by utilising more non verbal techniques to provide familiar mediums for children such as games, the use of puppets, story telling, or visualisation and imagery. It could be argued however that cognitive behavioural therapy would not be the therapy of choice for use with all children, these situations may be related to the nature and characteristics of the presenting issue, the systemic context along with the childs communication and cognitive