Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Effective Methods for Communicating with Children

In this activity, you will:

 Discuss and define the qualities, knowledge and skills that would make an adult

a good counsellor for children in distress

Facilitator’s notes:

The purpose of this activity is to encourage participants to think about

the qualities, knowledge and skills that make adults good listeners and

counsellors for children in difficult circumstances.

The qualities of effective communicators with children:

 Patience

 Good listening skills

 Empathy – the ability to imagine and understand another person’s experiences

 An interest in children and a desire to protect them; trusted by children

 Openness, honesty and an approachable manner

 Caring and non-judgemental attitude

 The ability to maintain confidentiality.

An important quality of someone who communicates well with children is someone with good

self-understanding. It may be useful for a potential counsellor to undertake a self-critique before

beginning counselling. This critique could involve:

 Reflecting upon one’s own abilities and character

 Reflecting upon whether one’s own behaviour towards children is ethical and congruent with

the values expressed in the home visitor training

 Reflecting upon one’s own attitude and personal values

 Reflecting upon one’s ability to communicate with and understand children

 Reflecting on one’s own experiences and challenges as a child.

(For example, are there any unresolved personal issues that need to be dealt with?)

Knowledge needed to communicate with and counsel children:

 Knowing how to assess the child’s understanding

 Knowing what the likely reactions from a child will

be, the difficult questions they may ask and how to

handle them

 Knowing how to handle your own feelings

and reactions during the process of

counselling.

It is important that a counsellor controls the urge to

tell a child what to do when counselling. Listen to a

child and try to assess his or her experience or

problems, with the aim of considering options or

actions to help and support the child.

This is a long activity.

It is linked with Activity 4,

where you will have the

opportunity to review

parts of this activity, so

also look at that activity

in your planning.

note !!

Activity 3

(^178) Unit 2, Module 2 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children