Explain The Consultation – The first session or two are viewed as a consultation to determine if the counselor is a good fit and if continuing to work with them will be beneficial. Talk with your child afterwards to process how it went and what they think of the counselor and continuing to work with them.
Explain Confidentiality – Helping your child understand what confidentiality is and that what you and your child talk about with the counselor is protected information can go a long way to putting them at ease. We want to make sure they understand that the counseling office is a safe place for them.
Be Your Kids Cheerleader – You can help counseling to be successful by giving positive affirmation and support to the child for their participation (for example, “you were really brave to talk about how you felt scared when someone bullied you at recess.”) Also, we often encourage parents to let their children know that counseling is an appropriate place to talk about private conversations that may not be appropriate to talk about at school or out in public.