The Benefits of Counseling for Kids (Pt. 2)
The benefits of counseling for kids, as we discussed last month, are HUGE! In our last blog, we spoke mostly about the long-term emotionally regulatory benefits. It certainly doesn’t end there though! One of the most immediate ways counseling can be helpful to children is by helping develop the ability to build healthy community. Let’s take a look.
An Unkind World
An important thing to be aware of is how difficult being a kid can be. There is so much to learn, so much to experience, and so much guidance needed to get through it all. Often the people children spend the most time with are their peers at school, and we all know that that reality isn’t always rainbows and sunshine. Frankly, kids can be really cruel. It’s no surprise that the skills we laid out earlier could be extremely useful in the face of that classmate cruelty.
An additional benefit of early counseling is to develop children’s ability to find safe people and places. Emotional regulation can only go so far, and sometimes we just need to remove ourselves from the danger zone. By learning what healthy coping and relationships look like, kids can seek out spaces and communities that will be safe for them, rather than finding themselves in constant contact with their stressors, bullies, or other harmful environments.
You Can’t Fix What’s Not Broken!
Counseling comes with stigma. That’s a fact that can’t be ignored. Thankfully, that stigma is disappearing by the day as counseling becomes more normalized in pop culture and amongst peer groups. Things that take a while to disappear, however, are the biases society has developed to push that stigma. Possibly the biggest among these is the idea that someone in need of counseling is “broken,” or “has a bad brain,” or worst, “is a bad person.” NONE OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE!
Differences in the ways brains function are as natural as any other difference between people. We all need support in varied ways, and mental health is the same story. Don’t allow those toxic societal biases to creep their way into your relationships, ESPECIALLY with your children. Counseling won’t “fix” them. There’s nothing to be fixed!
The Takeaway
This is perhaps the most important lesson to be learned about child counseling: there’s nothing wrong with it! Counseling is a way for a child and their guardians to come to an understanding of how their brain works, and what tools they can be given to navigate the world as wholly themselves as they can be.
After all, isn’t that what we’re all striving for anyway?
Contact us today if you have questions about helping your child.