Counselling Connection

Assessment is the core function for counsellors in child and family services. It begins with efforts to engage a child and family in order to build a working relationship where you as the counsellor can encourage participation rather than resistance. The assessment requires the counsellor to make sense of all the ... Read More

There are behavioural cues that alert the counsellor to the possibilities of a child being abused; different indicators are associated with the different abuses. Remembering that the indicators mentioned here are not absolute and that one behaviour that the child displays may not mean they are abused or neglected. There are ... Read More

Identifying and reducing the stressors that put a family at risk can be important opportunities to assist families in overcoming the abusive home environment. While it has already been mentioned that the stressors of socio-economic status are a major underlying contributor in some families due to the added stresses of poverty, ... Read More

Whatever the cause of the abuse and/or neglect, it can have long-standing consequences for the child. The younger the child, and the more vulnerable they are, the more serious the consequences are likely to be, however, with early intervention children can recover from abuse and neglect. When the abuse is ongoing ... Read More

As stated in The Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2004 edition of Identifying and Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect, the sad facts are:

There are four recognised types of child abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, and neglect. Children and young people are most often abused by a parent