Counselling for Children

The death of a parent or someone very close to a child or young person can be extremely distressing for them. They may find it hard and frightening to feel the pain on their own; the pain can feel too big and go too deep to manage alone. They will need someone who is able to be with them in their pain and not try to distract them out of these difficult feelings.

Counselling helps a child or young person’s feelings to be processed and digested so that they can move on. Depending on circumstances and the age of the child or young person, this can be done through talking, play, art, stories or poetry, which can help a child find expression and then words for their feelings.

Over time, if these difficult feelings of loss and grief aren’t explored, a bereaved child or young person can become depressed or stuck with angry feelings, or challenging behaviours. Any future bereavement may become particularly traumatic and difficult to manage. Children or young people may find it hard to trust loving feelings again, they may link loving someone with losing them; they may then try to cut off from loving feelings in an attempt to prevent more pain.

For some children it is easier for them to go through some of their pain and intense feelings with a counsellor. This is because the counsellor is not a close friend or relation and the child feels less worried or anxious about burdening, upsetting or overwhelming them. 

Bereavement counselling can help a child to be able to talk through words and images about the loved person whom they have lost. This can be a way to still feel connected to the lost person in a healthy way. 

How bereavement counselling for Children works

Bereavement counselling for children and young people often requires us to use different techniques and approaches. We also have a special counselling room for our children's service, fully equipped with different seating and materials, including items such as age appropriate toys for younger children and art materials for those slightly older. Our Child counsellors are specially trained in using these materials to help children and young people explore and make sense of their feelings in a manageable way within a safe environment.

Counselling sessions are held in the same way as adults, in that they are one to one with a specialist counsellor and will continue for between 6 and 12 weeks at regularly timed sessions. We are able to see children who are between the ages of 2 to 18 years of age. This can be for those who have lost a parent, sibling, close relation or any significant person in their lives.

For more information on our Children’s counselling service please contact us directly and we can answer any questions you may have - children@wandsworthbereavement.org.uk.

Other information