Helping Children Aged 4 - 11

As a new volunteer, I’m just starting to learn about what goes on behind the scenes at The Youth Counselling Project.

One of the things that has shocked me the most, is the need to allocate more than half of our resources to primary school aged children in Seaford. 61% of our capacity goes to children aged 4 to 11 who are already dealing with serious mental health challenges.

It amazes me that such young children are often unable to get help even after problems are identified by their school teachers. Imagine the impact it must have, to help a child aged 4-11 early in their life, rather than them grow into young adults having had their childhood overshadowed by mental health distress.

When working with young children, professional counsellors and psychologists use indirect techniques — such as guided play and creative exploration — to build trust and gain an understanding of how they are feeling without causing concern. To do this requires highly specialised experts which are very hard to find.

The Youth Counselling Project identifies and funds specialist professionals who then travel to schools in Seaford, to provide assistance in a safe environment for children who are just getting started in life.

We currently support the following primary schools in Seaford:

• Annecy Catholic Primary School,
• Chyngton Primary School,
• Cradle Hill Community Primary School,
• Seaford Primary School.

We are run entirely by local volunteers.  Please help us to do more by donating on our Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/youthcounsellingproject