Young People

Counselling young people is fun.

I like to think so, it certainly needs to be.

My work with young people falls into two categories – pulling teeth, and making changes.

And the difference between the two is about readiness; if someone (and you don’t need to be young for this to apply to you) isn’t ready or willing to come along the process is stuck from day one. This sadly means that sometimes people don’t really engage until they’re in crisis.

This does change because after one positive experience someone is much more likely to reach out for help next time something difficult comes along.

So once the right time is reached, the second point is accessible, change is ever so possible as the brain is still growing and forming it’s ideas and view of the world.

The trick is meeting, there’s the challenge. I can’t work with everyone by any means, working with young people takes the risk and challenge of being creative. This doesn’t mean painting and making things out of clay (even though it can do) it’s more a flexibility to meet and learn about where a young person is at. I didn’t grow up with the internet, i need to listen to what it’s like to live in today’s age. But this doesn’t mean i’m out of date either, relating human to human has been around for a long time, and it sure isn’t going anywhere.

Which leaves the play of working with young people, one thing’s for sure you never know what you’re going to get.