FAMILY GUIDANCE CENTRES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26474, 30 May 1947, Page 2

FAMILY GUIDANCE CENTRES

Dear Claire—ln a recent column you described various services for mothers in other countries. One such service which has interested me particularly has been the setting-up of advisory clinics wmeh have been established in England and ihe United States in order to assist in solving family problems. Many parents are visiting such centres with their problem children in order to consult child psychologists to learn the l cason for the difficult behaviour of their offspring and also how to train them in the way they should go. So many of us become parents with very little understanding of tne mentality of the children we have to deal with, and we become bewildered by temper tantrums and other deviations from our accepted standards of child behaviour. If such clinics could be established in the main centres in New Zealand, they would .greatly help worried parents to obtain a right perspective on their problems. Jfours, etc., Let’s Try It.

lam sure we will all agree with Let’s Try It ” that there is a need for such clinics, as there must be very few parents who have not wished for 'guidance at some time or another on how to manage their families. Psychology text books can state basic principles, but frequently there is a need for discussion before those principles can be applied. New Zealand has one such clinic that I know-of. It'is established in Auckland and is kno'tvn as the Family Guidance Centre. The Family Planning Association has sponsored it, and there is an advisory committee which includes a panel of doctors who are available for consultstion on medical problems. The centre is open every Tuesday from 11 a.m to 9 p.m., and there is usually a steady stream of people coming in for help in their difficulties.

A typical day might include such cases as thesei Mrs M- is concerned about her husband’s unrelenting attitude towards their adolescent boy and girl, who are threatening to leave home if he does not permit them to have more freedom. The personnel officer of a large industrial firm has sent Miss D along during her working hours for a consultation on improving her relationships with her fellow workers. Mr L is very distraught, as his wife has left him, and he has been unsuccessful endeavouring to manage his three small daughters. Could they suggest anyone who could help him look after his energetic offspring? The adviser suggests possible sources. of assistance, although they are all too few these days. Tommy T is the next patient, and his worried mother describes how he is continually romancing in his statements and refusing to admit that. he is being untruthful. Mother is assured that this is a phase which many three-four-year-olds pass through, and she is given certain suggestions on how to approach such flights of imagination. Mrs W brings in her six-year-old daughter, I'.etty, who has lately become a very bad nail-biter, in spite of the application of disagreeable deterrents. The consultant discusses the family relationships, and suggests that the underlying cause of such behaviour is the child’s jealousy towards her ’ baby brother, who has become the centre of attraction in the family. If Betty is helped to feel important and loved,.such traits as nailbiting will quickly disappear.

The centre also has a special play therapy group weekly, where some of the children with psychological difficulties are given facilities for free play with special apparatus which is provided.