So, here is the post that should have been out last month, but now I am on an official schedule that will not have me posting every month! Yeah! No, really it is good and challenging to do things that we don’t want to do.
As I give some direction for how to choose a counselor for your child, there are some questions to know the answer to before you start looking:
Do I want a male or female?
How much experience do they need?
Am I looking for someone who specializes in a particular area?
Is religious preferences important to me?
Am I limited by physical location? ( meaning, you may find a great counselor an hour away and the feasibility of getting your child there consistantly is not worth it.)
So after these have been determined and you have narrowed the list of people considerably, you are ready to start interviewing your prospects. Some things to keep in mind as you interview:
Are you comfortable with the person?
Did you feel like they understood your goals and concerns for your child?
When they explained how they worked with children were you comfortable with this?
What was their stance on confidentiality and children? Did you approve?
Will they give feedback and interact with you about your child’s progress?
These are the main things that typically are not considered, and you as the parent need to be comfortable with before introducing your child to someone. It is very hard for children to move from person to person while you figure this out. This is why a parent consultation without the child is so important. Remember you are the parent, you know your child better than anyone, the counselor is there to give perspective, objective, a safe place for expression and working through feelings, but the decisions rest with you.