Counseling for Children and Youth - impact and potential

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

Every day, hundreds of children and young people contact one of civil society's social counseling services to get help, support, and guidance in a difficult or complex life situation, e.g.: Børnetelefonen, headspace, Bryd Tavsheden, RedenUng or Sexlinien. Counseling is typically carried out as individual and anonymous conversations over the phone, chat, or email, but it can also be done in person and/or possibly in multiple sessions. With a significant increase in distress among Danish children and young people and a growing number of inquiries to these counseling organizations, these organizations are undertaking a significant and important societal task. However, there is very little research, both nationally and internationally, about the effects/impact of social counseling services, including the potential for improvement and how these effects are created.

The purpose of the project is to investigate whether, when, and how civil society's social counseling services help and support the children and young people who reach out. In the first part of the project, it is examined what the organizations behind counseling services for children and young people understand by good and effective counseling and how it is sought to be achieved. The project consists of a) a literature review of existing research on counseling services for children and young people, as well as the effects of these counseling services; b) document analysis of texts about the counseling services; c) qualitative interviews with counseling leaders and counselors, and d) cluster analysis to identify a range of ideal-type counseling services.

The project runs from July 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024, and is carried out in collaboration between Roskilde University and RådgivningsDanmark with funding from TrygFonden. The aim is to contribute with empirical knowledge and theory development for the purpose of evidence-based development of counseling practices, as well as significant contributions to the international research field.
Short titleCounseling for Children and Youth
StatusActive
Effective start/end date01/07/202331/12/2024

Keywords

  • Conunseling
  • Helplines
  • Children and young people
  • Well-being
  • Impact
  • Civil society