If you’re like most parents, you want what’s best for your child. And if your child is struggling with mental health issues, therapy may be the best solution. But it can be tough to know what to expect when taking your child to therapy for the first time. Here are three tips to help make the process easier for both of you!

1. Choose wisely when deciding between in-person and telehealth

I typically do not recommend telehealth for children under 13. I understand that telehealth helps to cut down on travel time, especially with a rigid work schedule, but I often find that young children have a hard time keeping their attention in the session, and the therapist has less tools at their disposal to keep that attention. Although telehealth is still an effective medium for therapy, it presents unique challenges for children that dampens its usefulness depending on the age of the client.

2. Try to get your child to “buy in” to therapy before bringing them

I often get young clients (especially teens) who say they don’t know why they are coming to see me, and they don’t want to be there. I think this is due to the parents assuming that the therapist can convince them to buy in to therapy. I have no problem being patient with clients and giving them time to get used to therapy, but that time equates to more money spent. For some parents, that extra money spent on rapport building sessions might not be a problem for them, however; parent on a tighter budget might want to make sure their child is ready before starting therapy.

3. Don’t schedule therapy during their “fun” time

Few things get therapy off on the wrong foot more than pulling your kid away from their video game to go to a session. Their attitude will already be negative and rapport building will be more difficult. Instead, you could time it to be right after their preferred activity or just after a chore so that they see therapy as preferential to what they were previously doing. After all, a kid saying “I’m not that excited about therapy, but at least it isn’t cleaning the yard,” is much better than “I’d rather be playing Fortnite right now, I hate this.” You can also give little rewards to reinforce therapy as a positive activity for them. To adults, the benefits of therapy reside in the therapy itself, while kids may need some extrinsic motivation. Think of it as if you are trying to get your child to eat vegetables.

I am glad that more parents are getting their children into therapy. However, I often see these mistakes that hinder the effectiveness of therapy. Hopefully these tips will help you maximize the effectiveness of therapy for your children! Finally, if you have children in therapy and they like to color, this coloring book is specifically made to encourage mindfulness in children.