Going to therapy for the first time can be a little bit scary! Trust us, we get it.
While this is completely normal, knowing what to expect and preparing for your first session can help you and your child feel more confident and ensure the appointment runs smoothly.
“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so… get on your way!” - Dr Seuss
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“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so… get on your way!” - Dr Seuss *
How to prepare a young person for therapy
Children (and young people - although they won’t like to admit it) seek adults around them to make sense of both the outside world, and their internal world of feelings and thoughts.
Before joining us in therapy, it’s important to take time to sit down with your child, to talk them through what they can expect when they visit Little Insights and provide them support and guidance through this process.
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If your feeling a bit nervous about starting this conversation with your child, it’s completely okay, it can be a really tricky conversation to get going and you may feel worried about how your child might react or that they might feel like something is wrong with them.
We suggest broaching the subject when things are calm, when in this state, your child will be more receptive to listening to what you have to say and considering the idea. It’s really important that therapy not be framed as a punishment because it’s not, it is a safe place for big feelings and a range of difficulties to be discussed.
We also suggest having this conversation 2 days prior to the appointment for younger children and a week prior for older children, just to give them the space they need to process, ask questions, share worries and for you to clarify anything for them.
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Let your child know that you have seen that things have been difficult for them lately and empathising how hard this must be for them - this let’s your child know you are in it with them.
Further, explaining why you think it’s a good idea for your child to go to therapy, in an age-appropriate way, helps them understand why you think it’s a good idea to bring in somebody new who can help. For example, you may briefly talk about some of the issues that your child or the family have been experiencing, what has been tried and how this worked and why bringing in somebody new to the situation may help. This gives your child context and don’t we as adults love to have information to help us understand things better.
Please try keep this explanation brief as not to overwhelm your child with lots of information.
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It can also be really helpful to explain what therapy is and normalise therapy, depending on your child’s age you can let them know it's a place to learn new skills, talk about anything and everything and most importantly to have fun while doing it.
If your child is older and they have questions, it can be a good idea to write them down and bring them to their first appointment to ask their therapist. Further if your child has worries, this is a good time to talk with your child about their concerns and explore what their beliefs of going to a therapist is and looks like.
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For some children and young people, being able to know where they are going, what room they will be in and/or who they will be seeing is important to them, so we are more than happy to send through photos of what our rooms look like and of their therapist before their first appointment to help make visiting to therapy that little bit easier.
If you have any questions about what to expect in your children’s therapy, please check out our therapy map.
we love curiosity and questions
If you have any questions about what to expect in your children’s therapy, Please give us a call
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