Counselling and supporting children in distress PDF
Preview Counselling and supporting children in distress
Counselling and Supporting Children in Distress Counselling and Supporting Children in Distress Sonia Sharp and Helen Cowie SAGE Publications London · Thousand Oaks · New Delhi © Sonia Sharp and Helen Cowie 1998 First published 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Publishers. Ο . SAGE Publications Ltd ' 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PU SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd 32, M-Block Market Greater Kailash - I New Delhi 110 048 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-7619-5619-8 Library of Congress catalog card number 98-61236 Typeset by Photoprint, Torquay, Devon. CONTENTS Acknowledgetnen ts vii 1 The Developing Child: Needs and Rights 1 2 Stress and Distress: Unhappiness in Childhood and Adolesence 18 3 Children and Grief 37 4 Storytelling and Everyday Chat 62 5 Peer Support 71 6 Dealing with Fear and Phobias 89 7 Rejection and Victimization 97 8 Disruptive and Aggressive Behaviour 112 9 Taking Preventative Action: Developing Resilience in Children and Young People 133 References 140 Subject Index 151 Name Index 160 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the following people for their contributions to the writing of this book: Jo Barnard, Ginny Farmiloe, Michael Hayes, Ian Rivers, Peter K. Smith, Paul Naylor and Gill Taylor. 1 THE DEVELOPING CHILD: NEEDS AND RIGHTS Ί can't imagine not being frightened/ Ί don't think I can go on any more.' Ί would like to end it all.' 'Suicide would be better than going to school again.' (Children's words quoted in MacLeod and Morris, 1996, pp. 1-2) The rationale: meeting needs and promoting rights Most adults would be shocked if they thought that a child in their care felt so desperately about life that they turned to an anony- mous help line to be heard. Yet such statements are heard every day and night by ChildLine telephone counsellors. What leads children to make such statements as those quoted above and how can we as adults improve our systems for giving children the support they need in these circumstances? It is estimated that 2 million children in the UK have some form of mental health problem, including eating disorders, anxiety, depression. There is a rising level of suicide, and emotional and conduct disorders are found in 10 per cent of children and 20 per cent of adolescents: About two in one hundred children under the age of twelve are depressed to the extent that they would benefit from seeing a specialist Child Psychiatrist. However, four in five in every one hundred of this age show significant distress and some of these could be described as on the edge of depression. The rate goes up with age, so that about five teenagers in one hundred are seriously depressed, and at least twice that number show significant distress. These figures apply to stable settled populations in reasonably good social circumstances. In troubled, inner-city areas with high rates of broken homes, poor
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