How can therapy help my child?
A number of benefits are available from therapy: problem solving skills, enhanced coping strategies, educational support, support of social skills. The world of a child is full of hope and accomplishments as well as unnecessary worry. Therapy can help:
- Attain a better understanding of your child
- Improve your relationship with your child
- Resolve issues or concerns
- Help your child cope with stress and anxiety
- Manage anger, grief, depression, and other emotional pressures
- Improve communications and listening skills between parent and child
- Change old behavior patterns
- Move a Child's Social Skills Along
- Improve self-esteem
Does my child really need therapy?
Everyone goes through challenging situations. Parents are confronted with: angry, anxious, depressed and oppositional children and adolescents. Kids try to solve interpersonal and academic problems in their own eccentric way. Those eccentricities confuse the loving relationship between parents and child. Parents make efforts to address these problems seeking meaningful results. Therapy provides an analysis using trial and error strategies designed to extract parents and child from unproductive patterns. The benefits, support, give parents and children tools to avoid triggers, re-direct damaging patterns, and overcome challenges they face. Young adults face college, career and independent living. They want to please themselves and parents at the same time and resolve the conflict as a complete person.
Why do people use therapy?
Consider that while a parent is raising a child; a child likewise, is raising a parent. This phenomenon constitutes a longstanding reciprocal relationship that begins a birth. At times tried and true child rearing techniques work: sometimes not. Therapy uses the parental and child's strengths and fashions solutions that can help all grow together.
What is therapy like?
Because families and children have goals for therapy, therapy will be different depending on the family systems. In general, you can expect to discuss the current events happening in your child's life, your personal history, and report progress as sessions progress. Depending on specific needs, therapy can be short-term, for a specific issue, or longer-term, to deal with more difficult patterns or your desire for more personal development. Either way, it is most common to schedule weekly sessions with your therapist.
It is important to understand that active participation yields results and relief. The ultimate purpose of therapy is to move the family and child's progress into day to day life. Your therapist may suggest some things you can do outside of therapy to support your progress - such as reading a pertinent book, journaling on specific topics, noting particular behaviors or taking action on your goals. People seeking psychotherapy are ready to make positive changes in their lives, are open to new perspectives and take responsibility for their lives.
What about medication vs. psychotherapy?
It is well established that the long-term solution to mental and emotional problems and the pain they cause cannot be solved solely by medication. The consideration of medication is complex for children and young adults. Medication is used to reduce significant discomfort in the life of a patient. When necessary a psychiatric consultation is requested to render an opinion as to whether medication is necessary to support therapy. Up to the age of eighteen a child psychiatric consult is requested and from eighteen a referral is made to an adult psychiatrist.
Do you take insurance, and how does that work?
To determine if you have mental health coverage through your insurance carrier, the first thing you should do is call them. Check your coverage carefully and make sure you understand their answers. Some helpful questions you can ask them:
- What are my mental health benefits?
- What is the coverage amount per therapy session?
- How many therapy sessions does my plan cover?
- How much does my insurance pay for an out-of-network provider?
- Is approval required from my primary care physician?
Does what we talk about in therapy remain confidential?
Confidentiality is one of the most important components between a client and psychotherapist. Successful therapy requires a high degree of trust with sensitive subject matter that is usually not discussed anywhere but the therapist's office. Children need to communicate with family and have the option in family sessions to express their concerns. Children can allow a therapist to help them express feelings. Every therapist should provide a written copy of their confidential disclosure agreement, and you can expect that what is discussed in session will not be shared with anyone. This is called Informed Consent. Sometimes you may want your therapist to share information or give an update to someone on your healthcare team, but by law your therapist cannot release this information without obtaining your written permission.
However, state law and professional ethics require therapists to maintain confidentiality except for the following situations:
* Suspected past or present abuse or neglect of children, adults and elders to the authorities, including Child Protection and law enforcement, based on information provided by the client or collateral sources.
* If the therapist has reason to suspect the client is seriously in danger of harming him/herself or has threated to harm another person.