The Children & Youth Care Counselling Program offers support for children or youth ages 4-18 to help them increase their resiliency so they can successfully manage issues on their own.
The program includes the following two options:
One-to-one or group support where the support worker acts as a mentor and role model to the child or youth they are working with.
As a mentor and role model, the Child and Youth Support worker involves your child or youth in activities to work on problem solving, skill-building, and conflict resolution. For youth, the worker can also help explore educational or vocational opportunities.
Support activities can take place at the Golden Family Center, around town or in nature, depending on your child or youth’s interests. These activities can include inside activities (artwork, crafts, resume writing, visiting the Youth Center, the library, etc.) or outside activities (walks, hikes, cross-country skiing, etc.).
Support activities can also happen in groups, when there are a number of children or youth who are dealing with similar issues and who are ready to be in a group setting.
The support provided to Children and Youth through this program depends on your family and your child or youth’s needs and goals.
One-to-one counselling or group support for your child or youth for a range of social and emotional issues.
Our Youth Counselling Program helps youth navigate a variety of mental and emotional challenges in their developmental years. These challenges can include difficulty at school, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, grief, divorce, and bullying.
Counselling can be beneficial for talking through difficult emotions, providing helpful resources, sorting out information, and learning to form healthy interpersonal relationships. A youth counsellor offers non-judgemental support and can also be an advocate.
Counselling can also involve outdoor or creative activities, in addition to conversations in an indoor setting.
Children and Youth come to us for help for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited to):
- Relationships with family members, other adults, and peers
- Challenges of living in a step-family or blended family
- Coping skills
- Dealing with the impact of separation and divorce
- LGBTQS + transitions
- Feeling hopeless or thinking about suicide
- Feeling isolated or abandoned
- Self-harm and risk-taking behaviours
- Dealing with grief and loss
- Anger management
- Difficulties in school
When working with youth, it is considered best practice to work with the young individual and their family together, involving everyone in the process. However, under certain conditions, youth aged 12/13-18 seeking counselling or support services have a right to confidentiality.
Before obtaining or relying on a youth’s consent, the counsellor must determine three things:
- That the youth understands the nature and scope of the services they are seeking.
- That the youth has the capacity or the ability to give or express consent.
- That the proposed counselling service is in the youth’s best interest.
COMPLETE THE INTAKE FORM
To find out more information or if you are ready to get started, please complete our online intake form to book an information-sharing appointment with one of our intake workers.
Or to ask for an intake appointment, email us at gfc@goldenfamilycenter.bc.ca or phone us at 250.344.2000.
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality is the preservation of private information disclosed during participation in one of the Golden Family Center’s counselling or support programs. With some exceptions (see below), your personal information is kept strictly confidential within our team and will not be shared without your consent.
EXCEPTIONS TO CONFIDENTIALITY:
- When information you disclose indicates there is clear and imminent danger to yourself or to others. In this situation, the counsellor or support worker is ethically required to take necessary steps to prevent such danger.
- When information you disclose indicates that a child (defined in B.C. as a person under the age of 19) is at risk and is in “need of protection”. The counsellor or support worker is required by law (so is any member of the general public) to inform staff at the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD).
- For case consultation to ensure the provision of quality services. This occurs within our team at the Golden Family Center only.
- When disclosure of your information is for the purpose of complying with a subpoena, warrant or order issued or made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of personal information.
