Help for children and families in distress

In Sønderborg Municipality, you as a family can get help with:

• Advice and guidance regarding your child's nursery, kindergarten or school
• Difficulties in participating in social communities or play
• Challenges with learning, concentration, or attention
• Language difficulties (e.g. stuttering, hearing loss, or pronunciation difficulties)
• Difficulties with motor skills, sensory processing, or physical restlessness
• Loneliness and isolation
• School absence
• Fatigue, sleep problems, or changes in appetite
• Frequent sadness, anger, anxiety, or other mental vulnerability
• Worrying screen usage or digital habits
• Self-harm, obsessive thoughts, or increasing worries
• Suspected diagnosis, such as ADHD or autism
• Lending materials to children and young people with special needs

What programs does Sønderborg Municipality offer for children and families in distress?

In Sønderborg Municipality, we offer a number of courses for those of you who experience discomfort - either in your child or in the family.

We offer courses for families with children, including:

• Have a parent with a diagnosis, illness and/or abuse (MindU)
• Responding to parents' divorce (Divorce group)
• Have lost parents or siblings and are in grief (Grief group)
• Are siblings of children with a diagnosis, illness and/or abuse (Sibling group)
• Is placed in foster care (Network group)
• Have symptoms of anxiety (Cool Kids / Chilled)
• Has an attention and/or developmental disorder (e.g. ADHD or autism) and has difficulty participating in social contexts (Coping loop)
• Has emotional difficulties and difficulty regulating emotions (The Emotional Compass)
• Has bodily reactions to discomfort (Seahorse training)
• Have negative thoughts about food, body and appearance (Family in Focus)

We also offer help to parents who experience:

• Postpartum reactions, including postpartum depression (Postpartum Reaction Group)
• Challenges in family life with young children (The Circle of Safety)

What is Pedagogical Psychological Counseling (PPR)?

If you as a parent or your child's institution or school are concerned about your child's learning, development and well - being, you can get help from PPR.

PPR consists of psychologists, psychological consultants, speech therapists (speech and hearing consultants) and children's occupational and physiotherapists. PPR offers advice and guidance to you as parents and your child's institution and/or school. PPR will be curious about your child's resources, understand the underlying causes of the challenges and, in collaboration with you and the adults around the child, find new options for action that can help the child.

Here you can see examples of what we can help with: 

• Contribute to creating sustainable children's and youth communities in daycare centers or schools
• Support increased well-being in the individual child and promote their development opportunities
• Provide advice to the child, parents and educational staff around the child on options for resolving the problems where they are experienced.
• Highlight the child's professional, personal and/or social functioning level and development opportunities
• Prepare an educational psychological assessment of a child's need for special educational assistance
• Contribute to adapting special educational efforts - including inclusion - in institutions and schools in accordance with the child's functional level and developmental potential.
• Limiting the impact of a child's disability

In some cases, there may be a need for individual intervention around a child, where it may be necessary to examine, investigate and support specific difficulties. This may be the case, for example, if your child has:

• Severe learning, social, emotional, or behavioral challenges
• Motor difficulties, delayed sensory-motor development, or sensory processing challenges
• Physical restlessness, low muscle tension or hypermobile joints
• Stuttering, hearing loss, or severe pronunciation difficulties
• Impairments or other disabilities

Most often, the first contact with PPR is through your child's institution or school. You can therefore contact the institution or school and ask them to include PPR.

As a parent, you can also contact PPR yourself if you have a concern about your child's well-being, development and learning. We will work with you to find out how we can best involve your child's institution or school.

You can contact PPR via:

Email: modtagelsen@sonderborg.dk

Tel. no .: +45 88 72 42 42 - key 2

Easily accessible treatment options

Easily accessible treatment options are for families with children and young people aged 5-17 who experience psychological distress.

The offers do not require a referral. As a parent or young person, you can contact us directly.

If you are unsure about what to do, you can call 88 72 42 42 (press 2) on weekdays between 9:30 and 11:30.

You can read and apply for the different courses here..

What help can I expect if my child needs help?

If your child or your family needs support, it can be nice to get an overview of what help you can expect. In the service level you can read more about the offers and support that Sønderborg Municipality can offer in the specialized children and youth area.

What specific support we can offer depends on the legislation. The support will always be based on a specific and individual assessment.

You can read the service level for the specialized children and youth area in Sønderborg Municipality here..

You can read more about the rates for children and young people for 2026 according to the Children's Act on the website of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing.