I need advice. I’m looking to get mental health support for my kid for anxiety issues that continually crop up - he seemed to do better late last summer so I thought he had outgrown them or matured enough, then they slowly crept up again and spiked recently. I realized that he really is going to need the tools to deal with this his whole life and it’s going to need to come from a professional.
He’s seen someone before (originally we started working with this provider for ADHD non-medidication stuff) but they are private pay and three times the price of an in-network provider.
My stumbling block on going to an in-network provider is a) having to get established with someone new, and b) health insurance. Because America. I can’t guarantee that someone we give this year will still take whatever insurance we the up with next year. But it’s only February so it still probably makes sense to see someone this year even if things do change next year, right?
Any arguments one way or the other?
@GrayMatter and anyone else with therapy experience, especially for anxiety.
I commend you for being on top of this! And yes, anxiety will likely be a lifelong thing for someone with ADHD (and many people without), so getting tools now will be helpful.
It is true that the whole insurance thing is awful in this country. I think group practices are less likely to drop individual insurance plans than individual private practices, so maybe consider that? And you can always ask about their plans up front, if they are considering dropping this insurance. No guarantees, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
For anxiety, I’d look for someone who does CBT or ACT and (very important) exposure therapies. Just about every therapist says they treat anxiety, but some of them do not treat it effectively. Too much focus on feelings and too much validation of those feelings actually backfires with anxiety and only reinforces it.
Also talk to them about what you can do at home to help (I’m also happy to have a conversation with you about this if you like, either here or by Zoom).
I’d try someone that takes your insurance first, unless money is no object. I’ve used Psychology Today to screen peoples’ profiles. Finding someone who works with kids and takes your insurance should reduce your options to a manageable size. Worst case you could always go back to the person you used before!
This can be a starting point but don’t rely on this. I ended up with a therapist that claimed he specialized in infertility, having to explain basic infertility concepts he struggled to grasp rather than getting actual fucking therapy so quiz them hard about their level of experience with it, the tools they use for it, etc
Yes - find someone and start therapy. You will get at least 9 months of therapy. Waiting gets you 0 therapy and 0 progress / support.
Any chance previous person can recommend someone in network? Any chance you could also do less frequent visits with the previous person (on top of in-network)?
Yes, unfortunately this is the case. Too many therapists will click all the boxes. Also, it is suspected that Psychology Today has been pulling some crap, like elevating therapists who work for the big corporations like Better Help over other therapists, and doing things like putting corporation’s number as the secondary phone number on individual therapists’ profiles (who do not work for these corporations). So a lot of the better therapists do not use it anymore.
We are going through the same thing right now. I haven’t personally had good luck with insurance for therapists in the past and I really want Pipsqueak to have a positive experience so we’re going with someone who came highly recommend that charges an extremely high amount. We’re going to try a few weeks and go from there…
If it feels like it’s working well I may put in the effort to search for someone who is on insurance but I want to get something started sooner than later.
It’s probably less of a decision for us too because it’s early in the year and I have a high deductible plan so we’d be paying quite a bit no matter what.
Anyone have any fav people who discuss style trends in video format, ideally accessible on YouTube or Facebook? Or like a guide to different styles, like what is cottagecore or coastal cowgirl or cabincore or whimsygoth etc etc.
I think upbeat vibes are good, I want to see Hamnet but not in this context. One battle after another is something I’m considering but not sold on.
If I can’t decide on something I haven’t seen before then I’d do something like She’s the Man or a nostalgia piece that I don’t mind if people talk through
I do a no bake lasagna wrangling the cooked noodles is a PITA) - you don’t need special noodles. I use the recipe on the Creamettes box. Or no recipe at all.
Jarred pasta sauce (add some water as it will be pasta cooking liquid too - like 2:1 sauce:water)
Cottage cheese instead of ricotta
Ground beef
LOTS of mozzarella, but another more flavorful cheese is good
Parmesan - Kraft’s pre-grated is fine
Yes, as I’ve made lasagna lots of times. But it kind of depends on what kind of lasagna you want. Meaty and traditional? Filled with veggies? I personally like it with spinach and no meat, but haven’t made it that way in many years thanks to picky children who think spinach will poison them.
But I usually make this lasagna, because I like the flavor and it’s easier. Sometimes I do it meatless and sometimes I add sweet Italian sausage. You could add ground beef instead, it just depends on what you like, honestly. I think I like no meat, but again, I’m usually trying to feed a variety of palates so that affects my choices. https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/cheese-lasagna.html
Then I mix some garlic powder, dried oregano and basil, and shredded parm or parm reg into ricotta
Pick either meatballs sliced or Italian sausage or Italian seasoned ground something cooked or none
In a rectangle/square pan
Layer of sauce
Noodle layer
Thin layer of sauce
Layer of meats if applicable
Layer of ricotta
Repeat until pan almost full
Thin layer sauce
Layer mozzarella
Oven at 400 for 40 minutes with foil
Foil off
Another 5-10 mins until top cheese melt
Can do the same thing with any cooked noodles in a deeper pan and then it’s just a pasta bake instead of a lasagna.
so quiz them hard about their level of experience with it, the tools they use for it, etc