Young Hearts Child Counselling Service

What is Young Hearts?

Young Hearts' goal is to provide a safe living environment for women and children.

Counselling is available to women, children and their non-offending family members and takes place in a neutral, secure and supportive environment to enable children to explore their feelings surrounding violence and abuse. Our rooms are equipped with toys, art and craft materials, storybooks and other essentials to enable us to use different styles of therapy including play, narrative, art and behavioural therapy.

Young Hearts ensures that the counselling experience for children is safe, positive, supportive and helpful. The group work sessions address behaviour which may be the result of being exposed to or experiencing violence or abuse. There are no expectations for participants to tell us their story. We are there only to support you.

The group program enables participants to develop a strong sense of self and provides an avenue for you to release emotions in a safe and protected environment.

The Service is free of charge and takes place over six to eight weeks.

Who can Young Hearts help?

Young Hearts is for children up to and including 18 years old, and women who:

• Have been exposed to family and domestic violence (even if they are in another room when the violence occurs)
• Have experienced physical or verbal violence themselves
• Have experienced emotional abuse and neglect
• Have been exposed to or experienced some or all of the above and are beginning to show signs of imitating violent or submissive behaviour

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Resources

Acknowledgements 

Young Hearts is kindly supported by Austal and the Channel 7 Telethon Trust.