Warm Connections Counselling provides individual therapeutic support to parents/carers of children/adolescents aged zero to 15 years. We also offer individual counselling to children/adolescents aged nine to 15 years. This service offers long-term support and aims to strengthen family relationships and improve wellbeing.
We offer both in-person and telehealth sessions. In-person sessions are available Wednesdays at Lanyon Youth and Community Centre, Conder. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and every second Friday are telehealth only.
The service is:
The service can support families where parents, children or young people may be experiencing social and emotional difficulties that are affecting their well-being and relationships with others around them. In all our work, even when working with parents, we will be considering the impact on the young people in the family. Our counsellors focus on building long-term relationships and understanding our clients to support them through their challenges rather than offering short-term technique-based / strategy-base therapy.
Warm Connections Counselling recognises the importance of family and attachment relationships in shaping the lives of children and young people. We understand that what is happening for one family member may affect others and can offer individual therapy to some or all family members, as appropriate. When considering the family context, we may ask parents to undertake therapy with us before seeing children and our counsellors would have an assessment session with a parent before a child or young person is seen.
Our counsellors help individuals within the family draw on their collective and individual strengths to work towards positive changes. The service acknowledges that past experiences affect the present and our counsellors are trained in and work with people who have experienced trauma.
Some of the issues Warm Connections Counselling can help address include:
However, different support may be needed for:
Where your needs would be better met by another service, we can provide information and suggestions on an alternative specialist service designed to meet those needs.
Warm Connections Counselling is a free service funded through the ACT Government, Community Services Directorate, Child, Youth and Family Services Program.
Please note: We require both parents to be aware of counselling for children/adolescents.
We accept referrals from other professionals, agencies, and self-referrals from prospective clients. To make an enquiry please email Warm Connections Counselling – counselling@ywca-canberra.org.au
Separated or separating families looking for support services can visit the Family Law Pathways Network for more information on other services available in the ACT and region.
To provide feedback on our services, please fill out our feedback form.