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Children and Family Counselling

Many children and young people from refugee backgrounds have experienced direct or indirect trauma because of persecution and conflict.  Additionally, if people do not have the opportunity to heal from trauma, they can unknowingly pass its impacts onto future generations. Their children may experience high levels of stress, difficulties with attachment and disconnection from their culture and community.

QPASTT’s work with families, children and young people focuses on ensuring trauma is not a barrier to growing, learning and thriving in Australia.

Early Years Counselling

Early Years counsellors can work with families through the perinatal period through to 5 years old. QPASTT’s Early Years counselling takes place with parent and child together because we understand that families know their children best and are central to their development.

Early Years counsellors support both parents and children to make sense of their past and to improve parent-child relationships which are often impacted by stressful experiences. Early years counselling may be appropriate when a carer’s parenting is being impacted by their past, or when a child has direct experiences of trauma. It may also be appropriate to refer to Early Years counselling when children are displaying challenging behaviours and they come from a family with refuge experiences (direct or intergenerational). 

Early Years work at QPASTT may look different depending on the specific age and needs of the child/family. In general, there will be a focus on supporting families to play and connect with each other, respond to challenging feelings and behaviours, and work together to make meaning of difficult experiences.

Counselling with Children & Young People

Children and young people may have experienced trauma directly themselves or trauma can be unknowingly passed on from parents to children.

QPASTT has counsellors who specialise in supporting children and young people. Counselling is usually built on creative expression and can include art therapy, play therapy.  QPASTT also runs a range of groups and activities for children and young people.  

For children and young people under the age of 16 years, it is necessary for QPASTT to gain the consent of the parent or guardian.

Family Counselling

QPASTT’s family-focused counselling and therapeutic groupwork offers whole of family interventions to reduce the impact of refugee-related trauma on family relationships, functioning and child development.

Our family counselling complements our community capacity-building parenting groups focused on strengthening parenting skills, easing acculturation and providing psychoeducation.

“I now feel confident, I am mentally ok, not depressed. I continue to have some problems but I deal with them better. My children feel very welcomed as well. They feel like going to see a family member. When I don’t go for a while my child ask me, when are we seeing [Counsellor] again? – QPASTT client

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