The Crucial Role of Finding the Right Mental Health Professional for Your Child’s Well-Being

There is a subjective component to healthcare that is important yet difficult to fully take into account. Yes, patients do better when they feel good about their care providers, but in a world of healthcare employment shortages and inflexible insurance companies, what are you supposed to do about it?

When it comes to your child’s mental health, you don’t want to settle for what healthcare provider happens to be in your coverage network. You want someone who will work well with them and help them achieve the results that they need. 

In this article, we take a look at why finding the right person is so important, and what you can do to increase the odds of making it happen. 

Why it Matters So Much

You want to like your pediatrician, but at the end of the day, their prescription for amoxicillin will get rid of an ear infection just as quickly as anyone else’s. Mental health care is a little bit different. Depending on the nature of the care being administered, your child needs to have a strong sense of trust and mutual respect with their care provider.

Mental health care can be both extremely personal, and challenging. Without a strong connection, the chances of finding success are much smaller. 

Keep in mind that you and your child may wind up having different preferences where this is concerned. Your opinions do matter, but the biggest priority should ultimately go to making sure your child is comfortable with the care provider.

They are the ones who will ultimately be putting in the hard work. They are the ones who need to fully trust and commit to the person they wind up with. 

How Do You Find a Great Mental Health Professional?

There are plenty of ways to find a good mental health counselor. For example:

• Ask for recommendations- Your pediatrician will almost certainly have a list of mental health professionals in the area that they recommend. Your child’s school might also work with multiple providers throughout the area. Finally, take the considerations of friends and family members into account. 
• Shop around- The quest to find the right mental health professional has been equated to dating over marriage. While finding a permanent fit is the ultimate goal, you shouldn’t feel shy about moving on if you simply aren’t making a connection. 
• Consider the wide variety of different mental health professionals- Psychiatrists. Psychologists. Psychiatric nurse practitioners. There are so many different kinds of professionals administering mental health care. Do a comprehensive search in your area to find out what options are available and what sets them apart from one another. 

To that latter part, keep in mind that there are fundamental differences between each professional category. Therapists are mostly focused on administering what is considered “talk therapy.” 

They are not medical doctors, but they are trained to understand psychological difficulties and help their patients work through them through more holistic (as in not pharmaceutical) support.

On the other hand, psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychologists are better positioned to diagnose patients and prescribe medications as they become necessary. 

Do Schools Offer Mental Health Support?

Most school systems will offer several kinds of mental health support. For one thing, your child’s public school will be required to make accommodations based on your child’s mental health needs. That might mean allowing them to take medications during school hours. 

It could even mean modifying the expectations they are held to as a way of ensuring that your kid can learn in the way that is most natural to them. 

For example, a child with ADHD might be given more time to work on tests, or they might have certain fidgety behaviors that they are allowed to display so that they can remain productive, but also not disruptive.

Your school should also have a psychologist and a social worker. Most likely, one, or both of these professionals will be shared across multiple schools within your district. This means that your child may not have regular access to them the way they might in a private practice relationship. 

The school psychologist might help work with your child to identify what they are struggling with and develop a solution that can be applied both in and out of school.

The social worker will most likely then check in with your child as needed to see how they are feeling and if the prescribed solution is effective.
While these services can be very valuable, they generally are used in addition to private help. 

There Aren’t Options in My Community. Now What?

You’ve committed completely to the idea that you need to find not just a mental health professional but the right one. Unfortunately, your town, like so many others, doesn’t have a ton of options to choose from.

The people you have seen just don’t quite seem like the best fit. What can be done?
In this situation, there are pretty much two options:

• Figure out how far you are willing to commute. It is possible you will find more high-quality healthcare professionals if you expand your travel radius. Obviously, driving forty-five minutes each way to an appointment twice a week will be a big drag, but sometimes that is the step that is needed to find the right person. Or….
• Consider telehealth. Telehealth services are a great alternative to long commutes. With these tools, your child will get remote care. This generally involves video consultations, though some services use written communication as well.

While remote mental healthcare may seem impersonal, it is an effective solution that many people use to receive the care they need. Most insurance plans will cover it, and it expands your options tremendously. 

No matter what solution you wind up with, persistence is key. The time between when you decide your child needs mental health support, and the day you find the right person to provide it might be filled with stress and anxiety. Understand that these feelings are both normal and temporary. 

Stick with it. The right mental health professional is out there.