Counselling and Psychotherapy work with children and adolescents requires different skills, knowledge and competencies. All these elements should be achieved within a training course that includes content and assessment components related to working with children.
Counsellors and Psychotherapists working with under 18s need to demonstrate competence in taking into account the development of the child’s brain, the different domains in that development and how those domains present, the impact of attachment issues and trauma on developing brain, the systemic world for the child and family, the impact of specific learning difficulties, different abilities and working with differently abled children, and the impact of the wider social world on children’s emotional and social development. This document intends to set standards that must be met in order to practice therapeutic work with clients who are under 18 years of age in a safe, congruent and responsible way. These standards are designed to ensure that practitioners who work with children and adolescents possess the appropriate knowledge, skills and competencies to engage ethically, professionally and effectively with such clients.
Download - IACP Standards for working with under 18s
(PDF 312KB)
This document intends to set standards that must be met in order to practice therapeutic work with clients who are under 18 years of age in a safe, congruent and responsible way.
When should I report a concern about a child to Tusla?
You should always inform Tusla when you have reasonable grounds for concern that a child may have been, is being, or is at risk of being abused or neglected. If you ignore what may be symptoms of abuse, it could result in ongoing harm to the child. It is not necessary for you to prove that abuse has occurred to report a concern to Tusla. All that is required is that you have reasonable grounds for concern. It is Tusla’s role to assess concerns that are reported to it. If you report a concern, you can be assured that your information will be carefully considered with any other information available and a child protection assessment will be carried out where sufficient risk is identified.
Reasonable grounds for a child protection or welfare concern include:
- Evidence, for example an injury or behaviour, that is consistent with abuse and is unlikely to have been caused in any other way
- Any concern about possible sexual abuse
- Consistent signs that a child is suffering from emotional or physical neglect
- A child saying or indicating by other means that he or she has been abused
- Admission or indication by an adult or a child of an alleged abuse they committed
- An account from a person who saw the child being abused
More information is avaialble on the TUSLA website
> How to report a concern about a child