Wilderness Psychotherapy is at the cutting edge of psychotherapy. Child at Heart works with the Four Shields, an earth based ecopsychology model that acknowledges the cycles and seasons in nature and how they affect our lives, in other words, we show our clients how to work with the teachings of the land.

We take young people through the Four Shields, which are a psychological and physical map of all nature, of which we are a part. We bring young people into Holding the Space, a radical approach to working with trauma and abuse. This is a therapeutic model that focuses on the building of community and on non violent conflict resolution.

Katherine and Carol engaged in a dialogue about why they offer counselling to children and young people and why they train others to do the same. The dialogue was inspired by their own discussions around what they could offer to the conference as trainers and practitioners.

The Presentation is concluded by a thought provoking and moving story that led to an audience discussion about the practical and political issues around working with Children & Young People.

This presentation was a reflective end to a conference packed full of learning about working with Children & Young People.

Often children and adolescents will not make the decision themselves to attend therapy. Professionals or caring adults choose. The initial step of working with this client group is to engage them in the therapeutic relationship and this short workshop will consider how to engage and build the therapeutic relationship. I will consider rage, shame and conflict within the relationship and how to engage child and adolescent clients.

In this workshop we will explore the emotional and relational impact of trauma on children. This will include a brief overview of the impact of trauma on brain development and attachment patterns. Through the use of clinical examples we will demonstrate how to work effectively and safely with trauma.

As part of the preparation for the “Working with Children & Young People” Conference that Karen is presenting at on January 26th, Karen has agreed to do an online interview with us to give us a sense of herself and how she works.