Critical Periods

Suicidal thoughts and ideations are very serious.  Lifeline 13 11 14 is Australia’s national telephone crisis support centre.  Counselling and Hypnosis may be used to assist in the treatment of compulsive thoughts and ideations of suicide.  Person’s diagnosed with a mental illness should be treated by appropriate professionals and follow their treatment plan as recommended.  They should be supervised by their doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist or other mental health professional.

Counselling and /or Hypnotherapy may be useful as complimentary treatments and to assist with cognitive and behavioural distortions /management.

Amanda’s long term voluntary role in Lifeline Australia has provided regular and ongoing suicide prevention and management to her skillset.

Early childhood, primary school, teenage, and adolescent years can be rather complex and difficult to deal with.  These are challenging years confronted with many changes.

Friendship issues, academic stress, bullying, identity issues, family issues, academic pressures, conflict, culture and diversity issues, stress, anxiety, substance abuse, and many more, may contribute to critical moments.  Safety and rights are the ultimate priority. 

Keeping children and young persons safe and protecting their rights is priority.  For the success of assessment and treatment, it is important the individual child wants to participate in therapy and skill building.  Techniques such as sand play and creative play activities tend to be useful when exercised in a professional session.

Other techniques revolve around inclusion, stimulation, guidance, behaviour management and cognition reframing.  Many children may also benefit by allowing them to speak with the therapist privately and enjoy the session without parental /guardian involvement.  For the best interest of the child, this should be discussed with the parent /guardian, and perhaps the child too.

Privacy, confidentiality, mandatory reporting and for the purpose of safety, it is discussed prior to session what is and what is not disclosed / and what is /is not reportable.  It is important that the young person feels safe, private and that confidentiality is respected.  This certainly lays the foundation for trusting future adults.  For this reason, one of the first topics discussed is privacy and confidentiality and its boundaries.

Amanda is a Proficient Early Childhood Teacher with Counselling Majors in Parenting, Children and Adolescents.  She is Mental Health First Aid Trained for this age group, and has a current Working With Children Check Clearance.

Amanda offers services both Face to Face in Clinic, as well as Distance Professional Services (also known as Telehealth, Teletherapy, E-Counselling, E-Therapy, Online Counselling, and Online Therapy, and Online Conferencing).