Yes! Yes! Yes! To all of this. This is the element of practice that is essentially navigating what it means to be a human. Not every hard thing is psychopathology. And if we can allow the human experience to include challenges without catastrophizing we can learn to cope well. And if we keep an eye on things, through models of primary mental health care like this, we can really get ahead of and intervene when the pathological stuff does happen.
The Department of Defense does a great job with this. For years, my office was in the pediatrics department of a military hospital or in a family primary care clinic. Medical providers could consult with me if they had a family in their office who needed the types of short-term, focused sessions you describe, and I still had the opportunity to see more traditional therapy patients as well.
I agree completely. The majority of families that walk through my door are looking for guidance, tools and advice. Their teens and home feels ill-at-ease but it’s not requiring a diagnosis. The family just needs a coach who will recenter, building understanding, offering tools and develop trust within the family system.
Without knowing that alternative methods like family coaching exist, these types of requests are filling up therapist schedules.
Yes! Yes! Yes! To all of this. This is the element of practice that is essentially navigating what it means to be a human. Not every hard thing is psychopathology. And if we can allow the human experience to include challenges without catastrophizing we can learn to cope well. And if we keep an eye on things, through models of primary mental health care like this, we can really get ahead of and intervene when the pathological stuff does happen.
The Department of Defense does a great job with this. For years, my office was in the pediatrics department of a military hospital or in a family primary care clinic. Medical providers could consult with me if they had a family in their office who needed the types of short-term, focused sessions you describe, and I still had the opportunity to see more traditional therapy patients as well.
I agree completely. The majority of families that walk through my door are looking for guidance, tools and advice. Their teens and home feels ill-at-ease but it’s not requiring a diagnosis. The family just needs a coach who will recenter, building understanding, offering tools and develop trust within the family system.
Without knowing that alternative methods like family coaching exist, these types of requests are filling up therapist schedules.