Sethu offers Counseling services for children of all age groups. Some of the common concerns we work with include anxiety, poor time management, low self-esteem, interpersonal relationship issues, peer pressure, poor anger management, suicidal ideation and dealing with irrational fears. Parents sessions are also done to teach effective parenting skills such as healthy and smart ways to communicate with children, behavior management, dealing with temper tantrums, mood swings in adolescents and the importance of using consequences instead of punishments.
These sessions are mostly individual sessions and are sometimes done as a family session depending on the need. All the issues discussed during the sessions remain confidential. Through the use of Narrative therapy, one is constantly reminded of how the person is not the problem but the problem is the problem!
Narrative therapy also places emphasis on the concept of ‘Externalization’. Let’s read about Suraj to understand how this works!
Suraj was a 11 year old boy who had difficulty dealing with the frequent anger outbursts that often made him scream, yell and at times break things. He would find himself saying mean things and extremely rude words to his parents.
Suraj was introduced to the idea that the anger wasn't within himself but it was something outside of himself that made him do all the things he wasn't happy about. This information seemed to have suddenly taken off so much weight off himself and he was able to move away from the problem almost instantly. He was able to evaluate the effects of the problem which was a feeling a complete loss of control of himself, regretting all that he had done.
The following image drawn by Suraj is a depiction of how he looks when the anger comes to him as well as a list of things that cause the anger to take over him:
Through the externalising technique, Suraj was able to make his own assessment of what the problem was doing in his life. Externalising allowed him to experience himself as separate from the problem thereby reducing blame and guilt and creating a space for him to take action as opposed to being overwhelmed.
An abstract and complex thing such as Anger, now seemed simple to him. Visualizing it as something outside of himself made it more possible to tackle it!