Happy New Year!
After all of the excitement and emotions of the holiday break, the new year is a great time to work toward establishing healthy routines, new goals and resolving to create new habits in conjunction with the start of the new year. For children and adolescents, there may be struggles with identifying what goals to target or how to get motivated. So here's a quick tip...offer validation and consistent psychological and emotional support by role modeling for your children and offer age-appropriate rewards that all family members can share to allow fair competition and consistent methods of achieving small, targeted goals. Enjoy the journey of making changes and if professional support is needed to work toward change, never hesitate to call my office at 215.773.8080 ext. 300.
Yours in Wellness,
Dr. V
Back to School Time…
It’s the time of year which causes a multitude of mixed feelings. For parents, it is a time of preparation when things “get back to normal.” As for our children and adolescents, there is the ultimate end of the freedom of summer, fear of new beginnings, changes in routines and the onset of the darker, cooler and colder months ahead.
With the end of the school year transitions, it is integral for parents, caregivers, providers of services and educators to collectively acknowledge and validate the socio-emotional and psychological issues that our young people may be experiencing. Additionally, there are new fears on the horizon, including the reality of school violence, shifts in physiological appearance and intrapsychic/intrapersonal distress with the onset of a burgeoning and ever-changing identity. The most valuable, encouraging information I offer is that this continues throughout the developmental lifespan and is entirely relatable as a human experience! While it may feel and look different than that of an adolescent or a young child, adults can find a common thread that will support the process of connecting and supporting these processes.
In my clinical work with children and adolescents, I continue to learn through their honest discourse and sincerity that most young people are eager to learn and to feel supported in the process. My challenge is always to find the “ties that bind” you together, without focusing on the divergence between that young person who may need an extra moment of your time, a hug or a kind word to feel safe and secure. As always, if you discover more severe issues where you need extra support, feel free to contact my office and schedule time to find out if there are underlying issues that need resolution or perhaps a few sessions to get the dialogue moving progressively. Either way, I’m here to help, support and guide in the best way I can offer. If this does not create an experience that is supportive for your child, there may be more severe issues at hand that require clinical attention. Additionally, contacting your child's primary doctor or other specialists is always a most effective plan of action to rule out allergies or other physical concerns that happen during the summer that contribute to further upset. Be sure to look at our "Announcements" page to see if there are groups that will support you or your child as we move forward into the fall and winter months. Research continues to offer peer support as one of the more successful methods of helping to cope with many of the issues we all have.
I wish you all a safe and wonderful start to a new school year!
Yours in Wellness,
Dr. V 