What Parents Should Expect of Their Child’s Therapy
By: Sophie Dixon
Your child needs therapy, and you aren’t sure what to expect. Maybe you’ve never personally been to therapy, or maybe you had a negative experience with it, and you’re not sure what it will be like for your child. You are understandably uncertain and may be apprehensive about bringing your child to a new therapist. You’re more familiar with the dynamics of parent-teacher conferences or sitting in on your child’s doctor’s appointments. Therapy is unique in a lot of ways, especially concerning the treatment of your child’s mental health. This post outlines some things you can expect to experience when you take your child to meet with a therapist.
Play therapy is likely to be utilized
While folks of all ages can benefit from play, this treatment approach is widely used for children, as it allows them to explore and express emotions, build rapport with the therapist, learn and practice skills to use in the real world, and develop feelings of safety.
Play is a child’s form of communication. Trained and licensed therapists know what to look for and how to interpret play as communication. Play is much more than it appears on the surface.
Play therapy’s benefits have been widely researched, including alleviating anxiety, increasing empathy and respect for others, developing coping strategies and problem-solving skills, increasing social skills, and strengthening family relationships.
Your child will receive a diagnosis
This is typically an insurance or documentation requirement that therapists must follow. Medical necessity must be carefully documented by mental health professionals, and this is done through providing a mental health diagnosis.
The therapist will discuss your child’s presenting concerns with you and your child through an in-depth interview to determine a diagnosis. Sometimes, questionnaires or assessments are an ongoing part of this process to ensure accurate and current diagnoses.
Your child’s diagnosis may change. As time goes on, new issues may arise in response to major changes or the treatment of other issues.
Parents have a crucial role in the success of their child’s therapy treatment
Some level of parental involvement is expected. The therapist will establish their approach for checking in with parents early in the process.
Your child most likely only sees the therapist for a 50-minute session once a week. This means the support provided to your child in the hours outside of the session will be key in helping them progress in therapy.
If the therapist’s recommendations are not followed outside of sessions, your child’s progress will be limited. Nothing changes if nothing changes; chances are some changes will need to be made at home to support them during and after their therapy treatment.
Parental involvement varies for every situation
In Illinois, individuals age 12 and older have the legal right to pursue therapeutic treatment, and therefore, it is up to them and their therapists to decide what involvement with parents may look like.
For older adolescents and teens, the therapeutic treatment focuses more on their goals for therapy. Parents learn how to support their child’s goals to improve their life and ability to cope with stress.
Teens benefit from having more autonomy and privacy regarding their therapy sessions. Younger children also benefit from trusting that their therapist won’t share every detail of their session with a parent.
Parents will always be informed of any safety concerns.
Therapists have a different profession than teachers
Parents who are bringing their child to therapy for the first time may expect therapists to behave or enforce rules the way teachers do. The difference in a therapist’s role in supporting your child will quickly become apparent.
Therapists have an ethical obligation to maintain their children’s confidentiality. They build trust with your child by keeping sessions confidential unless there are risks of harm or the child permits information to be shared with parents.
Parents may feel challenges when learning to trust this process
Parents’ own experiences or assumptions regarding therapy may heavily influence how they treat their child’s therapy.
Parents must trust the therapist and the therapeutic process for the child’s therapy to be effective.
If parents find they are struggling with this, they may benefit from a conversation with the child’s therapist or even with a therapist of their own. Having a child who needs therapy can be a challenging experience.
Progress can take time
In any form of therapy, rapport and trust between the client and the therapist are the most important factors in the success of therapeutic treatment.
For young children (and other ages), building trust with a new person in a new space takes a lot of time. Play can be an avenue for fostering this, and the progression of skill-building done in sessions can take time to benefit the child at home or school.
Play also allows children to share their personal thoughts and feelings in their own time.
You’ve taken the hard step of recognizing that your child is in need of therapeutic support. Whether you’ve had personal experience with therapy before, it is important to examine your own feelings that may come up when bringing your child to therapy for the first time. This is a very new experience for you both and it may even benefit you to meet with a therapist of your own while your child is working through their stuff in therapy.
Interested in signing your child up for therapy? Give us a call today at 217-203-2008 or send us an email to schedule an appointment.
Blog Disclaimer:
ChampaignCounseling.com is an informational site. The resources on this site are provided for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the specialized training and professional judgment of a health care or mental health care professional.
Champaign Counseling LLC cannot be held responsible for the use of the information provided. Please always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding the treatment of yourself or others.
Self-help information and information from the Internet is useful, but it is not a substitute for professional assistance. Please seek professional help immediately:
if you have thoughts of killing (or otherwise harming) yourself or others
if you are gravely disabled (unable to care for yourself);
if you are abusing substances,
or if you or someone else is in any danger of harm.
The sole purpose of the ChampaignCounseling.com blog is to offer resources and information to those dealing with mental health issues. We cannot, and will not, assume the role of your physician or therapist.
If you are experiencing an emergency, please contact 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
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