There are some things we do not need to face alone
Some of our children face situations that go beyond what is expected of most kids and teenagers: some of our kids are faced with living with a disability, some are figuring out their sexual orientation, and some of our kids are faced with situational challenges, like being bullied, being abused, dealing with loss, or getting caught up in drugs or alcohol. The Golden Family Center offers help for your child or teenager and we also offer support to you, as their parent, so that you can be there for your kids.
There are a number of program areas where we offer services for children and youth. It is the goal of each of these programs to support children and families to increase their resiliency so that they can successfully manage issues on their own.
Our general programs for children and youth include:
- Child and Youth Support – 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.
- Youth Counselling – one-to-one counselling or group support for your child or youth for a range of social and emotional issues
Children and youth come for help for a variety of reasons.
These may include such issues as:
- 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
- Coming out
- 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
Confidentiality for Youth
When working with youth, it is considered best practice to work with the young person and his or her family together, involving everyone in the change process. Under certain conditions though, youth aged 12/13-18 seeking counselling or support services have a right to confidentiality. For more information, please visit our page Confidentiality.
How we work
- Your counsellor or support worker will work with your family and your child or youth to identify issues and concerns as well as strengths and resources, and to help you determine your support work goals or counselling goals.
- Using your goals as a starting point, you and your support worker or counsellor together with your child or youth will develop a plan of change. Implementing this plan typically involves working in blocks of time that are 12-18 sessions long (spread over 3 to 6 months). At times the work can happen relatively quickly and other times there may be a need or desire for an extension. A review session at the end of a block of service will help you determine whether an extension is recommended or not.
- Our overall counselling approach is based on our understanding of Attachment Theory.
We also have a number of specialized programs for your child or teenager:
- Infant Development Program – this program serves children from birth to three years old, who are at risk for, or who already have, a delay(s) in development or who have a diagnosed disability or medical condition.
- Abuse Recovery Program – includes PEACE Program and the Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (SAIP)
What is Attachment Theory?
Attachment Theory lies at the foundation of all our counselling services. Attachment Theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans.
For more information, please visit our Attachment page
