What Every Child and Adolescent Therapist Wants Parents & Caregivers to Know
Welcome! This post encapsulates how valuable your role can be within your child’s time in therapy, while also spotlighting the autonomy your child can hold within their own treatment. Successful child therapy asks for a mixture of trusting your child to make best use of time within the privacy of sessions, while communicating and collaborating with their therapist to nudge the use of coping skills and behavior changes outside of sessions. It is a unique balance!
It is important that your child fully engages in therapy to really reap the benefits. To do so, they need to feel like their session time is a safe space, where what they share does not get parroted back to their caregiver. An exception, always, is in situations where their safety or the safety of others is in jeopardy. It takes time to build a strong relationship with a therapist, whether the client is a child or an adult. Just like all relationships in life, they build with time and demonstration of positive regard. When children bring up something within a session that a therapist believes to be valuable to share with parents, they will often encourage doing so.
You are the common thread sharing feedback on their well-being at home, at school, in extra-curricular activities, in physical health, and social and familial relationships. Keep in mind that direct collaboration with physicians and school personnel is an option to you with the appropriate releases signed. If this is something that you think would be valuable, please inform your therapist. Your therapist may recommend collaboration, particularly if your concerns lie in academia or medication administration.
“How to Effectively Communicate with Your Child’s Mental Health Therapist” provides further information on how to maximize your open lines of communication with your child’s therapist. Meetings to discuss your child’s progress and areas of growth are most efficient when a time slot is carved out in the day via a parent phone session or family session with the child present.
During your scheduled times for communication, your child’s therapist will provide guidance to improve your child’s treatment outcomes. Your child’s therapist will also provide you with parenting resources, tools to utilize through digital media or literature, community resources, and collaborative support during your child’s time within therapy. The therapist may share active steps the client is making to attain goals or make behavior changes. “Homework” is given to children (and adults!) in therapy to implement coping skills or gather information, like journaling or logging, for the next session.
You may be needed as a source of encouragement to combat the challenge change can be. The processing and reflection involved in the therapeutic process can bring about a mix of emotions. Being a source of strength and reassurance, even when elements of therapy feel hard can be tremendously valuable! Your child’s therapist may even identify ways that you can change too. This is an excellent opportunity to model change for your child!
You, your child, and your child’s therapist are a team! Together, with balance, a strong alliance will bring about change!
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How to Effectively Communicate with Your Child’s Mental Health Therapist
Listening Skills to Help Cultivate a Healthy Connection with Your Child
Changes You Can Make at Home to Help Support Your Child While in Therapy
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If you’re a Marylander who knows that counseling is the direction you need to take, the therapists at LifeSpring Counseling Services are here to help. We offer online counseling services for mindfulness, depression, anxiety, trauma, and grief and loss. We also offer Brainspotting as a specialized service, and Brainspotting can be done online, too!
Here’s how you can get started! Online counseling for caregiving, parenting, communication skills, and boundary setting aren’t the only services offered at our Maryland office
The counselors and social workers at our Maryland office also offer counseling services for trauma, grief and loss, boundary setting, communication skills, and difficult life transitions. We also offer specialized counseling services including Brainspotting and spiritually-integrated counseling. Because we are located next to several local universities, we also work with college students and international students.
Written by: Caroline Masucci, LMSW
Caroline is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) at LifeSpring Counseling Services in Maryland, and she specializes in anxiety, depression, trauma, and communication skills. She works closely with children, teens, and adults.
Photo Credit: Gustavo Fring, Nicola Barts, Pavel Danilyuk, & Barbara Olsen
Date of download: 10/10/2022
