Child Mental Health Service
A free mental health service for children aged 4-13 years, and their parents, who are experiencing separation or divorce.
Counselling for children, and information and strategies for families
Our service supports the mental health of children in families experiencing conflict, separation, and divorce. We provide age-appropriate counselling for children experiencing mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, social struggles, family issues and grief. We also provide information and strategies for their parents and carers.
Evidence shows that supporting children’s mental health during separation and divorce helps them adapt more quickly to change, improves their wellbeing and resilience, and supports positive child-parent relationships.
We support children to:
- share their thoughts and feelings about their parents’ separation, in a safe space
- have improved mental health and wellbeing, by providing supportive counselling
- build their social and emotional skills, which are important for mental wellbeing.
We help parents, carers and family members to:
- understand how separation and divorce affect your children’s mental health
- identify your children’s needs and learn strategies to support them
- work towards healthy ways to co-parent after separation.
How it works
1. Assessment sessions
Parents or carers attend an individual assessment with our child mental health practitioner. This helps us to understand your perspective as a parent/carer about your child's mental health, and any other risks, concerns or issues affecting them.
Our child mental health practitioner will also hold an assessment session with your child. We’ll ask them age-appropriate questions about their feelings and what they might want to get out of counselling. Parents/carers can attend this session with young children or children who need additional support.
2. Counselling
We provide up to 6 sessions of counselling for children and their families. We may meet with your children individually, or with children and family members together, depending on your family’s specific needs.
How we provide this service
Sessions with children, or with children and parents/carers together, take place at our Kew Centre, located at 46 Princess Street, Kew.
Sessions with parents can be provided online or in person in Kew.
Cost
Free of charge.
Safety
The safety of our clients and staff is our priority. Read about our commitment to child and youth safety.
If you’re experiencing or are at risk of family violence, this service may not be suitable for your child at this time. Please contact us using the details below to talk about your situation and how we can support you.
You can also contact The Orange Door in your local area for family violence information and support.
Urgent mental health support options are detailed in this list of external mental health services.
Getting started
To make an appointment or learn more about how this service could support your child and family:
- fill in the form below
- call (03) 9261 8700
- email cmh@rav.org.au
Learn more about our mental health services
Child and youth safety
Keeping children and young people safe is a priority at Relationships Australia Victoria. View our statement of commitment and Code of Conduct to learn more.
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