Five Ways to Support your Child with Teletherapy
by Carrie Landis, MSW
As we head into another year of COVID lockdowns, restrictions and schedule-changes, many therapists are offering teletherapy. For adults, virtual therapy can be easy as it’s similar to ZOOM or facetime - both are applications adults used prior to the pandemic. For children, this has opened a whole new world of technology, interaction and virtual connection-building. With this said, children deserve mental health support. For many children, this looks like therapy in their home with their therapist on the computer. Many are successful with virtual therapy but the right environment can improve focus, protect confidentiality, and increase therapy effectiveness. Here are five tips for supporting your child in their telehealth sessions.
Five ways to support your child with virtual therapy:
Provide them a safe space. This can be a desk or a comfy chair in an office room, a spare room, their bedroom or any space in the home where they have complete privacy to speak without parents or siblings overhearing. For smaller spaces, a sound machine placed outside the door is helpful for curbing sound. This allows the child to be as open or discrete as they please. When a child feels they can speak their mind, they are able to process feelings and events without concerns of being judged or fear of someone listening in. Some children prefer to have headphones and this allows them the privacy they need to feel that therapy is a safe space.
Materials. In-person therapy for children often includes toys, legos, art supplies, sensory-creation materials and more. As your child builds rapport with their therapist, check in to see if they can use anything for their “therapy space.” This can range from fidgets to markers to paper to workbooks or playing cards. The therapist is going to choose activities that cater to your child’s learning modality, interests, and mood.
Consistency. Maintaining a consistent therapy schedule allows the child to know when to expect therapy and creates a structure and routine that they deserve when working on increasing their mental health stability. This allows therapy to be a priority for the family and ensures other scheduling needs are scheduled around the therapy appointment.
Trust the process. At the beginning of therapy, rapport is being built between the therapist and the child. During this time, the therapist is getting to know your child and their past and current experiences. Many parents will observe therapy and think “How are they even doing anything? All they do is play!” Playing and creating allows children to process through emotions and events when they can’t articulate the big feelings in their body.
Respect. Respect is a skill that children understand over time by observing those around them. This often looks like learning from the adults in their home and using the adult’s modeling as a way to understand what respect looks like. When children are engaging in therapy, it is their special space and their individual time to work on their own needs. Children are not required to share therapy information with their parents and do not need to discuss certain topics in therapy if they do not want to.
Communicate with your child’s therapist if you are interested in learning more about the modalities used in therapy and how to support your child as they work towards their treatment goals. It is recommended that family sessions are incorporated every 6-8 weeks and that children feel fully supported in their therapy journey.
If you are interested in therapy for your child, feel free to contact us for a free phone consultation. We will use this time to discuss our philosophies, your needs, your schedule, and how we can best support your family.