How do you determine if you ’ ll take on the role of therapist for that patient ?
Do your consultations have a set time length ?
When I started training , it was three hours . You ’ d meet with the child for an hour , then the parents , then the family altogether . The reality of health care these days though , we ’ re now talking about an hour or hour and a half for first evaluations . Follow-ups can range from 15 to 30 minutes depending on what ’ s needed . If you determine your role is going to be that of a therapist , then follow-ups may be an hour .
There are a variety of illnesses or disorders affecting a child . Are there some that are more common ?
As a class of disorders , anxiety is probably the most common . But anxiety is a variety of disorders including : post-traumatic stress , separation anxiety , social anxiety . Those are not uncommon . We have a sort of anxious culture .
I should also say depression . It does occur in youth . Depression can be a safety issue and is something we see fairly often .
Well , there are some interventions where I see the patient for six weeks . But , most times , you ’ re helping these children develop or cope better with a disorder that may be chronic in nature . The disorder may not go away , but you ’ re helping them manage through it . So , I ’ ll see them less frequently as they get better at managing the disorder themselves .
Is there anything you ’ d say to families who may be in need of your services in the future ?
Keep an open mind . And sometimes , when a child is struggling , it ’ s not necessarily because the child has a disorder . It may be a more family-related interpersonal struggle . We know that if a family has health struggles , it can affect the child .
Sometimes my role may be to help the parent , and the child will improve . So just keep an open mind and know that we ’ re looking at the whole family rather than just the ‘ identified patient .’
Think about our culture . What do families struggle with these days ? How do you manage raising a child with all these electronic elements ? I usually tell families to find ways to stay connected outside of social media , even if it ’ s just eating a meal together with the phones facing down for 20-30 minutes . The connection doesn ’ t have to be a major change . If parents can give even 15 minutes of focused interaction here and there , it goes a long way . Negotiating the social media world in a safe way is challenging for teenagers and their parents , and that ’ s something we ’ ve seen a lot of recently .
4 VITAL SIGNS Volume 12 • Issue 3