Children and Young People Supervision Group
Working with children and young people asks counsellors to hold a lot at once.
The client in front of you may be a child or young person, but the work often also involves parents, carers, schools, family systems, risk, consent, confidentiality, developmental needs and the expectations of adults who are worried, frustrated or wanting change.
This group is for counsellors and psychotherapists working with children and young people who want a reflective supervision space to think carefully about the clinical, ethical and relational complexity of the work.
Reflective supervision for counsellors working with children, young people and the systems around them
Children and young people rarely arrive in counselling on their own terms alone but are often sent by someone else: a parent, carer, teacher, school, or service. Sometimes the adults around them arrive with a clear view of the problem and a strong hope that counselling will fix it.
The anxious child.
The angry child.
The school-refusing child.
The withdrawn teenager.
The hurt young person.
The child who will not talk.
The young person who is “making poor choices”.
Good supervision helps practitioners slow this down.
What is the child or young person communicating?
What is happening around them?
Who is distressed by the behaviour?
Who wants change?
What does the young person want?
What is the counsellor’s role here?
Children and young people are not problems to be solved. They are people with their own experiences, needs, developmental capacities, relationships, loyalties, fears and ways of making sense of the world.
This group offers space to think about the young person, the family, the system and the practitioner’s role without collapsing the work into a simple behaviour-management task.
What we may explore
This group may include reflection on:
Consent, assent and confidentiality
Thinking through consent from parents or carers, the young person’s assent, confidentiality, limits of confidentiality, information-sharing, records and how to explain all of this clearly and developmentally.
Parent and carer dynamics
Working with parents and carers who may be anxious, overwhelmed, protective, defensive, exhausted, highly involved or wanting quick answers. This includes holding empathy for adults without losing sight of the child or young person’s experience.
Schools and systems
Navigating communication with teachers, guidance officers, school leadership, GPs, paediatricians, NDIS providers, child safety, youth services and other professionals involved in the young person’s life.
Risk, safety and reporting
Thinking clearly about self-harm, suicidal ideation, abuse, neglect, family violence, bullying, online harm, sexualised behaviour, substance use, unsafe relationships, mandatory reporting and documentation.
Developmental practice
Considering what is appropriate for the child or young person’s age, stage, language, capacity, regulation, family dependence and ability to reflect. Counselling with a six-year-old, a twelve-year-old and a seventeen-year-old are not the same thing wearing different shoes.
Play, creativity and communication
Making sense of play, drawing, movement, metaphor, silence, humour, avoidance, shutdown, anger, pleasing or refusal as possible forms of communication, without over-interpreting or turning every moment into a clinical treasure hunt.
Family systems and power
Reflecting on the relationships around the young person, including parental conflict, separated families, sibling dynamics, intergenerational patterns, family violence, culture, loyalty binds and the power adults hold in the young person’s life.
Neurodivergence and difference
Thinking carefully about neurodivergence, sensory needs, learning differences, giftedness, communication differences and the risk of mistaking distress, overload or difference for non-compliance.
The practitioner’s emotional response
Making room for the impact of the work on the counsellor, including protectiveness, frustration, helplessness, worry, grief, rescue impulses, uncertainty or strong reactions to parents, carers, schools or systems.
Why group supervision?
Work with children and young people can be deeply meaningful, but it can also be complicated and exposed.
Practitioners are often managing the needs of the young person while also responding to adults who may have their own hopes, fears, agendas or pressures. The counsellor may be asked for updates, opinions, letters, strategies, reassurance or certainty when the clinical picture is still unfolding.
A small supervision group gives practitioners a place to think with others who understand this kind of work.
The aim is to support clear clinical judgement, ethical practice, child-centred thinking, strong boundaries and a steadier relationship with the systems around the young person.
Who this group is for
This group may suit you if you are a counsellor or psychotherapist working with:
children
adolescents
young people
parents and carers
school-related concerns
anxiety, distress, anger, withdrawal or dysregulation in children and young people
family change, separation or conflict
childhood trauma, abuse, neglect or family violence
neurodivergent children and young people
risk, safety or mandatory reporting concerns
systems involving schools, services, family law, child protection or other professionals
You do not need to work exclusively with children and young people. The group is also suitable for practitioners who see children, adolescents or families as part of a broader counselling or psychotherapy practice.
Experienced supervisors
This group is facilitated by supervisors who are experienced in working with children and young people who understand that working with children and young people often means holding the child’s voice, the parent’s concern, the school’s pressure, the system’s limits and your own clinical judgement at the same time. We also understand that counsellors in this space care deeply about protecting the dignity and agency of children and young people, while still needing to work respectfully with the adults around them.
Format
Online small-group supervision
4 x 90-minute sessions
Capped at 6 participants
For counsellors and psychotherapists across Australia
Fee
$399 per person for a block of 4 x 90-minute sessions, including GST (equivalent to $66.50 per hour)
Dates
TBA
We are currently finalising the supervisor and schedule for this specialist supervision group. Expressions of interest are now open, with the first group expected to commence in October 2026. Register your interest and we'll let you know as soon as dates and the facilitator are confirmed.