Page 67 - Meeting with Children Book

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clinical and is not considered counselling. It is a way
to meet and get to know a child who is part of a
family going through separation and divorce.

Expressive Activities
Those using the Meeting with Children approach are
trained to use 6 different expressive and projective
activities with children and youth. The activities all
provide distance and give the young person the
opportunity to share things that are important and
salient to him. During and/or after an activity the
practitioner is trained to ask questions that stay
within the child or youth’s metaphor. This avoids
drilling for information or particular answers. A
number of particular skills are taught such as “inquiry
skills” versus interviewing skills. All activities are
exemplified in demonstration videos.

Non-Evaluative
Meeting with Children approach also follows a non-
evaluative approach to hearing from children.
Children are offered opportunities to engage in
different activities that allow for varied degrees of
self-expression and sharing. Once the young person
has finished the activity (or during the activity) the
practitioner will write the child’s comments down
verbatim. Non-interpretive meetings mean the adult
is not in charge of meaning-making, rather it is the
child that describes what he/she means.