1. COUNSELING YOUNG CHILDREN COMMON MENTAL ISSUES IN CHILDREN

2. SIBLING ISSUES When children have a sibling who is born with mental disabilities this can cause sibling issues. The child who is not disable needs to adjust to the child who is disabled. Siblings play important roles in each other’s lives. When the relationship is broken because of the disability or chronic illness of one child the future relationship can be altered. Children with siblings who are disabled usually have many positive characteristics, such as empathy and altruism, high tolerance for differences, high sense of maturity and responsibility and pride in their siblings accomplishments.

3. YOUTH IN CARE More needs to be done to help the youth that are in the criminal justice system. The system has been minimizing the risk that the youth will reoffend vs. helping the youth with their mental issues. Studies have been conducted looking at youth from offending teams, detention centers, and secure care homes. Most of the youth are being restrained for their behavior vs. figuring out what is ultimately causing the behavior. It is important that counselors who work in the school make sure that they are helping the youth who are facing the criminal justice system by trying to figure out what is causing the behavior.

4. Trauma (abused children) If a child has been sexually abused they may react to this abuse in many different ways. The counselor must always listen, believe, and be patient with the client. The child has to be consistently believed and reassured that they did the right thing by telling someone. There are counseling agencies that provide counseling to children as young as 2 years old. It is very important that the counselor gets the parents involved in the counseling session. Group counseling can also be successful for some youth. As a counselor we should make sure that we are treating these clients with care.

5. Trauma (neglected children) There are many approaches for working with children who have been neglected. Many children have experienced neglect due to parents being drug abusers. Counseling children who have been neglected is similar to counseling children who have been sexually abused because the children need support.

6. TRAUMA (CHILDREN SEPERATED FROM FAMILIES) Family counseling involves assessing the family, providing them counseling and education. Some children need counseling to cope with the various stages of divorce. Some of the goals of this type of counseling is: rebuilding broken bonds between parent and child and maintaining safe environments for children to thrive. There are many counseling services that are set up to accommodate children with these issues outside of the school system. Counselors need to understand the needs of these youth and if they are not able to assist them, they should know where to refer.

7. Trauma (child welfare) In a given year, one million American children come to the attention of the child welfare system. (NCTSN, 2005) It is imperative that knowledge is increased and skills are built among caseworkers and child welfare personnel to help identify and provide early interventions to these children. Counselors can help these children in many ways, such as: providing counseling to parents who children are at risk of entering the child welfare system and by providing counseling to children who are at risk or are currently in the system.

8. Trauma (major disasters) Natural disasters can be very scary and traumatic to children. It is not important to minimize the danger of the disasters to children. Children are consciously aware of their parents worries especially during a disaster. The child’s age affects how the child responds to the disaster. It is common for the children to relive the trauma during repetitive play. Counselors must be gentle when working with these type of children because we don’t always know what exactly the child has experienced or lost.

9. Resiliency The ability to cope and adapt to change. Children are very resilient but need the resources and support.

10. conclusion Children face many other issues other than the ones that have been stated. Peer pressure is a big issue in American middle and high schools. Bullying has became a huge issue and debate because children are now able to bully online, through text messages, etc. As a counselor, we must be in touch with the issues that face our youth in order to help them cope and overcome.