This essay will demonstrate an understanding of the Australian Sequentially Planned Integrative Counselling for Children Model (SPICC) which embraces theoretical concepts and practical strategies from a number of established psychotherapeutic approaches such as Client Centred Counselling, psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Gestalt Therapy, Narrative Therapy, CBT and Behaviour Therapy. The author will reflect on the goals of counselling children on all levels and explore the SPICC model which incorporating an overview of the stages of therapeutic change and the tasks of the therapist. The therapist must have a good understanding of the therapeutic modalities used in the SPICC model, the spiral of change and the processes occurring in the child in …show more content…
By now the child will be less anxious and help them integrate more easily into their world. Image, storytelling/narrating and metaphors are used to gain this new, healthier perspective of the child. The therapist will stay within the metaphor of the child’s story to allow for dramatic distance which facilitates the child to explore how their problems have influenced their internal and external worlds. Through recreating a preferred story the child can change their own narrative. The therapist’s role in this phase is not to direct the child’s story but to act as a wittness, facilitating the child to stay in contact with the self and checking in that they are understanding the story correctly (Geldard et al, 2013). The child will now be able to separate themselves from their problems, let go of painful memories, gain some control over their world and further develop their own identity as in the case of Dibs (Axline, 1964) when he does not want doors and windows shut anymore and boldly begins to open them. Older children and adolescents who may have difficulty telling creative stories may be helped by creative media such as cards, story boards, pictures, story cubes, miniatures to represent the story may be used. It is crucial to help the child stay connected to the new preferred story and it is at this point that the therapy progresses to phase