Total Communication Therapy's Transdisciplinary Services:
Psychological Assessment for Children in Singapore
What are psychological interventions for children and adolescents?
Just like psychotherapy or counselling for adults, psychological intervention for children and adolescents is a preventative psychological service that works on the socio-emotional, developmental, and behavioural needs of your child before it develops into severe mental health issues that are harder to treat and recover from. The intervention is conducted by a professionally trained educational psychologist and based in psychological research and evidence. Some of the common challenges that emerge in psychological interventions are anxiety which can be due to school or academic performance, stress, friendship/peer-related issues, bullying, low mood, low self-esteem, depression, trauma, oppositional behaviours, and other psychosocial difficulties. The goal of the psychological intervention is to assist your child in coping with the challenges and better manage such challenges in the future. Psychological interventions for children and adolescents are adapted to meet their abilities, needs, and development so that it caters to different age groups.
Are psychological interventions for children and adolescents necessary?
The receptivity of seeing a psychologist for psychotherapy as an adult is gaining traction in our society, but what about children and adolescents? Psychological intervention for children and adolescents may be less understood and known by the public because of a longstanding mindset that children and adolescents are not as vulnerable to mental health issues as adults for various reasons. For instance, it’s not uncommon to hear someone minimise a child’s or a teenager’s mental health concern with “What do children and teens have to worry about? They only have to study!”. Consequently, treatment is not sought or delayed until the problem has worsened or spiralled out of control. However, this is a misconception of children’s and adolescents’ development because developmental obstacles or challenges are encountered in the trajectory of the lifespan, not just during adulthood. Children and adolescents, like adults, have to overcome these obstacles to progress in terms of development.
In order to improve the wellbeing of children and adolescents, it is time to acknowledge that young people in the modern society experience emotional wellbeing problems just like adults! There are many factors at play such as exposure to social media at an earlier age, parental separation, earlier maturation, lack of social understanding and social skills, stressful competition at school, and even environmental hazards that are becoming more frequent. Thus, psychological intervention becomes useful and even necessary for some. It provides children and adolescents with a safe space to talk about their challenges and experiment with solutions. It is often assuring for them to know that there is a trusted adult that they can turn to besides their parents. When challenges are confronted in a safe space with guidance from a trusted and understanding adult, changes can be made and new skills can be generalised outside of the therapy room. Early intervention is always critical. However, it is never too late to begin since it is better late than never.
If you are interested to find out more on therapy for children and adolescents, send us an email or give us a call!
Zhi Ying Tan (Educational Psychologist) is available for children's psychological assessment and intervention at Total Communication Therapy
Thus, psychological intervention becomes useful and even necessary for some. It provides children and teenagers with a safe space to talk about their challenges and experiment with different solutions. It is often assuring for them to know that there is a trusted adult that they can turn to besides their parents.
When challenges are confronted in a safe space with guidance from a trusted and understanding adult, changes can be made, and new skills can be generalised outside of the therapy room. Early intervention is always critical.
However, it is never too late to begin since it is better late than never. If you are interested to find out more on psychological intervention for children in Singapore, send us an email or give us a call!