Therapy for you and your family
Under normal circumstances, people behave in certain ways based upon their thoughts and beliefs. For example, you, as a parent, might believe that your kids must eat vegetables in order to be healthy, so you require them to eat vegetables every night with dinner.
But what happens when some event or circumstance comes along that conflicts with those thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors?
If you are the parent of a behaviorally challenging child, you may have seen therapists, psychiatrists, or other mental health providers looking for answers to your child’s behavior problems. I’ve been there.
May is mental health month, and since anxiety and stress levels are so high, I asked world-renowned resilience expert Andrew Shatte, Ph.D. to offer us some resilience tips. Dr. Shatte is the Chief Science Officer at meQuilibrium and the founder and President of Phoenix Life Academy, a company that specializes in measuring and training in resilience. He is a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Executive Education, a former professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently serves as a research professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Shatté has published prolifically in peer-reviewed journals and is the co-author of
The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles.
I wrote this answer in response to another mom’s post in one of my parenting groups. I thought it might be useful to others, so I’m sharing it here.
This mom is having trouble getting her child to comply with any directives at all, including school work, hygiene, meals, and bedtime. Here’s what I wrote:
As you all probably know, I am parenting three children with mental health problems. There are a total of seven people and two dogs in my house right now.
I’ve been working from home while homeschooling my kids for three years, and in that time I’ve developed a few home-management skills that help me get both work and school tasks done effectively.
Dear long-time readers: You may recognize this blog post from my old blog, nicoleroder.com. From time to time, I will re-share old blog posts here. If you’ve read it before, feel free to just scroll by. (Or stick around and enjoy it all over again!)
I wrote this particular blog post in 2017. Back then, I didn’t have the best handle on treating my kids’ mental illnesses. It’s not exactly easy now, but at least the kids are taking prescription medications along with their therapy. That helps a lot.
Like just about everyone else in the world, I am stuck in my home with my family. We plan to use this time to unplug, rest, and re-connect as a family. What follows is my quarantine diary.
A lot of the news about the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) sounds scary. It’s also confusing and changes rapidly. Understandably, your kids might have some questions. Below, you’ll find a round-up of articles that contain good advice for answering those questions, easing some of your children’s (and your!) anxiety about the virus, and keeping your family safe and healthy.
Question: Hi Nicole. I follow you on Twitter and wanted to ask, how did you know it was time to start your kids on medication? I understand if it is too personal to share but just interested in your experience.