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Summer Therapy

Autumn Quiles, LCSW

Therapist Insider Tip: Summertime is one of the best times to start therapy.


Really, anytime is a good time to start therapy. But most often, families start therapy after A Tragedy or after The Situation becomes Too Much. But we therapists know that there is a very long story that starts long before The Tragedy happens and we know The Situation brews for many months, or years, before it reaches Too Much.


It is much harder to navigate the process of Finding Your Person when your family is Upside Down. This process is made much more difficult when your neighborhood therapists have few openings because it is a busier time of year. These are some of the reasons that the summertime is a great time to begin a Journey of Change:

  • Kids who are not managing the daily pressures of school- academics and friends and school-year extracurricular activities- have more emotional flexibility to build connections with family and start practicing skills at home that will be essential for the next school year.

  • Parents who are not managing the daily pressures of school- teacher discussions and friend drama and facilitating school-year extracurricular activities- have more patience and can better distinguish how much of their kid's Stuff comes from internal or family dynamics, and how much Stuff comes from school-related pressures.

  • Therapists are better able to evaluate/assess how a family manages stress when they can see functioning during the "down time" of summer versus functioning during the stressful period that happens at the start of school.

  • The ease of summer days makes it easier to be brave about weathering uncomfortable feelings or having difficult discussions.

  • Families who have worked during the school year often leave their School Year Routine for the summer; kids go to camp and families leave town- taking a break from therapy. This creates openings in the therapist's schedule- openings that fill quickly once the school year begins again.

  • It is much easier to try new therapists, to find Your Person, given the scheduling fluidity that both families, and the therapist, have during summer.

If, as a parent, you have noticed that your child is relating to others this summer in a way that concerns you... Or if you have noticed an ease in your child that was not there during the past school year... you might consider starting the Process of finding Your Person this summer, to strengthen the relationships and skills your kiddo will need heading into next year.

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