Why Is It So Challenging to Find Mental Health Services for Children? - By Mandy Bailey
Ever since my son was a toddler, he has struggled with emotional regulation. He feels ALL feelings really big; when he is upset or mad, it is explosive to the point where he cannot calm himself down or verbalize his thoughts and feelings.
My son has been in therapy on and off since he was 2 years old. Over the past 6 years, he has seen more therapists than I can remember. Reasons for this have varied from him aging out of Early Intervention to therapists leaving their practice due to insurance changes. When we had to find a new therapist, it meant my son goes without therapy for months and months at a time. The biggest challenge is locating a therapist who sees children, has availability, takes our insurance, and isn't an hour or more away from our house.
Children who need Mental and Behavioral Health support shouldn't have to go months without services, for any reason. The lack of consistency in services does more harm than good. Every time my son starts with a new therapist, we start back at square one, instead of continuing with his progress. My son is now at the age where he tells us that he feels better when he is in therapy. All children deserve access to any services needed to feel good!
The services my family needs most is being able to get consistent, continuous services so there are no gaps in treatment plans. We need more therapists who specialize in seeing children and a plan within each practice in case a therapist leaves or some other incident occurs that would disrupt a child's services.
