If you are the parent of a teen in therapy, you may have questions about confidentiality with your teen's therapist. Here are the 9 most common reasons why parent's want to reach out to their kids' therapist, why it doesn't work, and the better ways to handle each situation, which is almost always to include your child in the conversation with their therapist. Implementing these tips will help protect confidentiality with your teen's therapist.
Let me start by saying I am not an expert on Social Justice issues. I, like many of you may be, am on my own racial identity path and allyship journey. I'm striving to be an ally to my neighbors, friends, and colleagues of color. I am striving to listen, educate myself, speak up in my white spaces, and take action towards change. This is not easy and it takes intentionality. The important part is not letting the fear of getting it wrong prevent me from doing something. Hence, I share my thoughts in this blog even if it is not perfect.
At MCCC we work with so many adolescents and their parents at the later stages of parenting. But since we know that ALL aspects of mental health are connected and related, we wanted to bring attention to the earlier life stage of parenting. What happens for parents in the early stages of parenthood is impactful throughout the entire life span. So back in October we hosted an amazing conversation with perinatal mental specialist Joanna Strait, LISCW/LCSW-C. Watch it here or read all of the highlights below!
Two of the most prominent and common therapy styles right now, and especially at Montgomery County Counseling Center, are CBT and DBT. Here is a quick distinction to help you understand the differences and similarities between CBT and DBT
It is not uncommon for emotions to be seen as weakness. And we see the need to express emotions as somehow being soft. Emotions themselves are incredibly powerful and can be very painful. But, we are wired to pay attention to the things that cause us pain. This is because emotions are a part of a system designed to keep us safe. SO what is the case for starting with emotion? And why are emotions essential to your health and wellbeing?
For those not familiar with the DEARMAN DBT skill, it lives in the Interpersonal Effectiveness module. It is used to ask skillfully for what you want or need in such a way that increases the likelihood that the want or need is met.
Work stress has always been a hot topic in therapy. To think that the place where we spend most of our waking hours doesn't impact our mental and emotional health would be silly! And with covid shining a magnifying glass on any preexisting stressors, it's no wonder that workplace changes and work stress is on the top of the list of common concerns for most people these days.
Relationships are hard. Most people agree relationships take work. Often what starts as a romantic partnership can turn into monotonous parallel living. Other times it looks like daily arguments or attacks leaving us wondering what work we need to do to save the relationship. John Gottman, founder of the Gottman Institute, discovered a way to… Continue reading Worth The Work: How to Save Your Relationship
As a therapist who works with anxiety in teens pretty often, I regularly see the overlap between anxiety and ADHD diagnoses. One of my big "soap box" moments is talking about how the behavioral symptoms often look so similar in small children. Misdiagnoses are common and medicating with stimulants makes anxiety worse! So in an interest to get to the bottom of this, I interviewed Dr. Lindsey Dogali to talk about the difference and the overlap in anxiety and ADHD! Watch the video below or scroll down for a breakdown of the interview with timestamp intervals for every topic!
