Creative Counseling with Children and Families

CREATIVE  COUNSELING

This video shares some of the many ways creative counseling has helped bring families closer together, as well as helping children to connect with their emotions. Please enjoy!

Creative Counseling for Children: Anxiety

Anxiety and worry are common issues when counseling children. The source of anxiety in children may be generated from many underlying issues. Children often reflect the worry and anxiety that they witness from their parents and caregivers. Often times it is helpful to work with the entire family system to combat issues of anxiety and worry. Here are a few creative techniques that are very useful when counseling children with anxiety. 

THE WORRY WARRIOR

Creating the worry warrior can be a very fun and therapeutic activity for children. Simply use an old cereal box (or similar) and cut a slit into the box. The client will write down their worries and anxieties and "feed" them to the worry warrior! 

THE WORRY BOX

The worry box is a great way for children to combat their worries at home. By having the child create a worry box, they are able to write down all of their worries that they may experience between counseling sessions. This way the child does not have to think about their worries all week, but can simply write them down and not worry about them again until they are with the counselor!

GAME: BRIDGE OVER WORRIED WATERS

This is perhaps my favorite therapy game! It is specifically created for children who have anxiety. The game is filled with problematic scenarios in which the child will choose a coping skill to combat the problem. For example: 

Problem: "You have a big test tomorrow at school"

Coping Skill Choices: "Take 10 slow deep breaths", "Talk to a trusted adult", "Listen to your favorite music"

This game is available for purchase on The LearningOutlet for $34.99, or I encourage you to create your own homemade version!

Creative Counseling with Children: Ice Breakers and Games

Adding a little creativity to counseling sessions can not only make the session more interesting, but it may also help the client to remember the "take home message".   Children naturally are drawn to hands-on activities that can help get them talking. Since building rapport with children and teens can be a challenge, here are a few creative, and inexpensive "do it yourself" techniques to break the ice!

THERAPY JENGA

 

Jenga is a familiar game for most children and teens. Therapy Jenga is a great spin off, that will get kids talking, while having a great time! Simply write therapeutic questions on one side of the block, and begin playing. This works great for family sessions!

Example Questions: "What is your favorite subject in school?", "What do you like best about yourself?" 

Tip: Use different colored Sharpie markers to differentiate each topic. For example- All questions about "Family Background" will be in blue.

TOSS AND TELL THERAPY GAME

Toss and Tell is a great game for younger clients. I have found that it is difficult for some children to sit down during sessions. This game is perfect for hands-on kids with a lot of energy! Write questions all over the ball to get kids talking. Play catch with the client, and whatever questions that the child's right hand lands on, they answer that question.


Tip: You could make several therapy balls with different topics.
For example: Make a Self-Esteem ball or Coping Skills ball.

THERAPY UNO

Playing Uno with a child, teen or family can be a great way to interact. To play, I suggest following the standard rules, but when someone plays a wild card, that person gets to ask anyone at the table a question.

For example: When playing a Wild card (black) I might ask the client, "who does the majority of the discipline in the house" or "who is someone you can talk to when you're upset". For families, I might ask the Father, "What is one way you will spend quality time with your family this week".