+ What kinds of issues do you support young people with?

We specialise in working with children and adolescents. We do not see adults (other than in relation to parenting) so that we can focus all of our attention and systems on working with the under 18 year old age group.

Often families would like to know what each psychologists "specialise in". Given that working with young people is considered an area of speciality in itself - this is a difficult question to answer. To be honest, every one of us see children and teens who are struggling with a variety of issues, every week.

If you would like someone who knows about your child/teen's issues - read through this list below. It will give you an idea of the things we all frequently see on a weekly basis, and hopefully this will help you get an idea of whether we might be able to support your young person.

Anxiety is the most common difficulty we work with. This might be anxiety about friends, separation, relationships, family issues, getting sick, worrying about toileting or eating issues, school, exams, change, self, or anxiety itself. We see anxiety in the form of obsessions and compulsions, panic attacks, phobias, avoidance, behavioural problems or just worrying.

Depression and Sadness - we work with children and teens go through times when they cry a lot, don't want to do anything, "drop out of life" and question themselves and the world. Some of these might be feeling sad, having trouble sleeping, cutting themselves, thinking about their future or crying a lot.

Study and Organisational Skills - we frequently help young people who are struggling at school. We work with kids and teens having trouble organising themselves, remembering things, motivating themselves to do homework, coping with tests and exams and managing the distractions of phones and social media

Social Problems - we do lots of work with kids and teens struggling with friendships. SOme of these might be experiencing mild or severe forms of harassment and bullying at school or in the world of social media and need help to cope. Other children have difficult friendships and need help managing these. SOme need help with improving their social skills and social relating - and we want to do this in ways which respect difference, minimise distress, support choice and respect neurodivergence in our community.

Body Image Issues and Eating Concerns - we work with children and teens who struggle with how they look and with eating an appropriate amount and range of foods. We do not provide treatment for young people with a severe eating disorder (ie those who have been provided with an Eating Disorder Plan) as these young people need a more intensive, multi-disciplinary service.

Frustration and Difficult (defiant) Behaviours - We frequently work with kids and teens who have problems managing frustration with siblings, parents or friends and who become exceedingly overwhelmed when things don't go right. We work with children and teens having trouble following instructions, or "listening" to parents, and those with problems with lying or hitting/hurting others. For teenagers, this might also involve difficulties with alcohol and drug use. We know there are many reasons and causes for these behaviours and want to support children to feel calmer and more co-operative in ways which are kind, respectful and suit their needs.

Sleep problems - We help children and teens who have trouble getting to sleep, waking up a lot during the night, feeling sleepy and tired during the day and maintaining good sleep habits

Trauma, Grief and Loss - some children and teens we see have experienced traumatic events such as the death of a family member, abuse, sexual assault and other traumatic life situations.

Learning and Attention Problems - some children and teens we see struggle with "keeping up" at school, being able to pay attention, stay focussed, understand concepts and ideas at school. They often become discouraged and have little confidence in their abilities

Relationships and LGBTQ+ / gender diverse issues - teenagers we work with are sometimes struggling with relationship - breakups, sexual behaviour, gender diverse issues and sexuality. We often work with young people who are in the process of identifying thmselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Challenges with neurodivergence/disabilities - many children and teens we work with have been diagnosed with Autism, ADHD or a disability. We have worked with hundreds of families dealing with their child's differences or disabilities and know the challenges this involves.

However, we see children (aged 11 and under) with Autism and/or who have NDIS under our separate "Disability/Early Intervention Stream" - please see the FAQ: My child has ASD/NDIS funding above for information about this.

If you don't see your child/teen's problem listed above, please feel free to email me at kirriliesmout@developingminds.net.au and I will direct you either to one of our psychologists who works in that area, or to another psychologist in South Australia who might do.

+ What issues do you support parents/caregivers with?

Parents who have children or teens who are managing mental health issues, or life challenges are more likely than other parents/caregivers to struggle with anxiety and fear, frustration and disappointment, overwhelm, embarrassment, fatigue and hopelessness. We support these parents/caregivers to feel more positive, hopeful and confident with issues related to parenting - and to improve their own emotional wellbeing directly.

+ What approaches do you use in working with clients?

Our psychologists use a variety of approaches in working with young people and families and tailor interventions to the needs of the individual child and family.

However we generally use cognitive behavioural techniques (CBT) with most families (including particular types of CBT - eg trauma focussed CBT, CBIT for tics etc).

We also all frequently use mindfulness based approaches (ACT - acceptance and comittment therapy) and have had extensive training and experience in this approach. Sometimes this is called "third wave" CBT.

In addition, we are informed by developmental and skills training based approaches (the idea that children need to learn skills to cope with feelings and challenges), work from a systems approach (the idea that helping children's wider social systems is helpful) and are strongly influenced by ideas about parent-child attachment (the idea that child/caregiver relationships are very important).

We also principles from dialectical behaviour therapy and solution focussed therapy. When working with younger children, we always incorporate elements of play therapy into our sessions. Some of our clinicians use EMDR.

Most of all, we are committed to using evidence based approaches and keeping up to date with what research tells us about what works best for families with different challenges.

+ What are therapy sessions like?

Most therapy sessions involve the following:

• Briefly recapping what has happened since the last session
• Checking how your "practice at home" tasks set from last session went
• Asking about your priorities/requests for the current session
• Providing "therapy intervention" (practicing skills, providing psych-education, doing exercises and discussing ideas). For young children this might look like "playing" or "chatting" - this helps us get to know the young person and help us subtly introduce ideas and behaviours in a way which suits their 'age and stage'
• Setting up your next lot of "practice at home" tasks to do before the next session

+ Which psychologist is best to provide therapy for my child's particular challenges?

We are often asked which of our psychologists would be best for a particular young person. Unfortunately this is not an easy question to answer in advance, as children/young people all have slightly different needs and all of our psychologists have slightly different styles - and often this can't be "matched" - particularly prior to having met the child. However what we can say is that as a service that exclusively works with kids, teens and their parents or carers, all of our psychologists work with challenges related to young people and child/teen mental health - rather than 'specialising' in a particular area of child and adolescent psychology. Although we don't make recommendations for particular therapists, you are most welcome to read about each psychologist and their background by clicking here

+ How do you work with children with challenging behaviour?

We frequently work with children who have challenging behaviour. Out of all the children who come and see us at Developing Minds, around a third of them would frequently have “challenging behaviour”.

What is challenging behaviour? It can include many different things, depending on the age of the child, but typically it might include children who - more than typically expected for their age:

• Have trouble following instructions
• Have a tendency to be impulsive
• Find it hard to notice, make sense of or communicate feelings and needs
• Have trouble managing feelings of frustration and disappointment
• Find it difficult to maintain concentration or attention
• Find it hard to notice the needs of others
• Get extremely upset, angry and distressed easily (“meltdowns” - aggression, tantrums, hurting selves, demanding voice or "shutdowns" - crying, withdrawing, hiding, curling up on the floor)
• Find school or friend relationships difficult
• Very sensitive to or over-react to noises, sights and sensations
• Find it hard to motivate themselves to do things they aren’t interested in
• Find it difficult to deal with changes in routine

Why do some children act in challenging ways more often than others? It’s important to remember that these are not “bad kids”. Challenging behaviour is NOT about being “lazy’ or “naughty”. We believe that if children have the skills, support and resources to act in positive, sociable, cooperative ways they generally will.

Instead, challenging behaviour is caused by a range of different factors. Kids with challenging behaviour have extra life challenges or difficulties with certain skills. They often need help learning to act in different ways and feeling more secure with others. They often don't understand important ideas. They sometimes are in environments or routines which accidentally encourage challenging behaviour.

This is not their fault, and this is not the fault of a parent.

How do we work with children with challenging behaviour? We know kids want to get along with others, to learn, grow and thrive. We know that kids need to feel safe.

We therefore work with children to help them identify how learning to act in more positive ways can get them what they really want and need more often. We help them know how to act in positive ways more often, why it matters and help them practise doing this.

We also work directly with the parents/guardians themselves. As well as having some sessions with the child, we will usually need to have both sessions with the child and parents in the room together AND sessions with the parents/guardians by themselves ("parent only sessions").

We will usually need to have a minimum of 3-5 sessions with parents – without the child present - to help coach parents in how to manage difficult behaviour in their child. Research shows that support, coach and help for a parent to know how to respond to their child's challenging behaviour themselves has much more positive long term effect than just a psychologist working with the child directly.

What do we do in parent only sessions? In parent only sessions, we cover a range of topics including: How to give instructions to kids with challenging behaviour, how to figure out the need of a child showing challenging behaviour, using effective praise with kids with challenging behaviour, connecting with and helping kids with challenging behaviour feel secure, understanding the causes of challenging behaviour – among many other topics. What work is done depends on the needs of your child.

During these sessions we will use examples of the particular kind of behaviour you have told us your child struggles with. We will ask you to complete a small homework assignment each week and also ask you to record examples of challenging behaviour at home.

Please note, that Medicare Better Access funding does not usually cover parent only sessions. This means these parent only sessions need to either be paid for with private health cover, or sometimes other funding schemes will cover them. Please ask for more information about payment options.

Finally - our central philosophy: This is what lies underneath our approach: compassion. We know how hard it is to live with and support a child with challenging behaviour. It’s tough for parents, and tough for children too. It takes a long time to change behaviour patterns (in both adults and kids!) and for some children this is an ongoing process. We want to support parents as they manage this.

+ Does my child/teen really need to see a psychologist?

This is a tough question to answer - and it's not always easy to know. But the following points might help you make your decision.

Do you need to be experiencing a very traumatic situation to see a psychologist? No. There is objective rules for what is a "tough" situation and what isn't. We do see children and teens who are going through situations which might be considered by some as only mildly difficult (e.g. feeling anxious about seeing friends, not feeling comfortable at school, not handing in assignments etc) as well as children and teens who are in situations considered to be extremely difficult (e.g. death of a person close to them, teens struggling with severe drug addiction, significant depression and so on).

Less important than what the situation might look like on the surface to others is this: how distressed is the child/teen OR how distressed is the parent?

If either a child/teen or a parent is very upset about what is going on - it is worth getting support.

Do you need to have mental health issues to see a psychologist? In many situations, seeing a psychologist is beneficial whether or not someone has a “mental health problem”.

Sometimes I compare counselling to tennis coaching. If you are not doing so well at tennis, then coaching helps. However, even the best tennis players get coaching. In the same way, counselling can be beneficial regardless of what a person’s mental and emotional health skills are like.

Another option for primary aged child, if you are not sure whether therapy is the right service for you is our online psycho-education program called Calm Kid Central which can provide support for young people while they wait (including courses for children and parents, and text based answers on a Question Centre from child psychologists) Clickhere if you think this might be helpful for your family.

When SHOULDN'T you make ongoing appointments to see a psychologist?

If a child or teenager is really quite happy with life, and not showing many signs of distress – doesn’t have any important goals they think they need help achieving, and has seen a psychologist on a couple of occasions already, then it is usually not beneficial to bring the teenager/child to ongoing counselling sessions - especially against their wishes. A one off session can help determine whether this is the case or not.

I'm concerned but my child/teen isn't!

This is very common. If a parent is concerned and struggling with the child/teen, then instead we will often suggest the parent come in for sessions on their own – in order to help the parent know how to cope with and respond to the child/teen and feel more confident and peaceful about the situation at home.

We see parents on their own frequently for either one off or ongoing sessions.

Another option for primary aged children, is our online psycho-education program called Calm Kid Central which can provide support for children (including courses for children and parents, and text based answers on a Question Centre from child psychologists)who are not motivated to actually attend the clinic. Clickhere if you think this might be helpful for your family.

One last important note: Finally, if you child/teen is showing signs of very high distress – for example daily crying, self harm, thoughts of suicide, dangerous or risky behaviour – or if you are very worried about them and can't work out why - then we would suggest you seek help immediately.

+ How to explain counselling to your child/teen

Here is some information especially for kids/teens who are coming to see us.

Welcome to Developing Minds :)

What do we do ?

We see children and teenagers of all ages for a whole range of different things. For example, we help children and teenagers through feeling sad, angry, stressed or perhaps feeling lots of worries about school, friends or family. This doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you if you’re feeling any of these things, lots of children, teenagers and even adults go through tough times. Everyone needs a little or sometime a lot of help at different times, like how your teachers helps you at school, or your coach helps you at sport or you mum, dad or grandparent help you at home, a psychologist can help you with the things your finding hard or tricky to deal with.

Why do I have to come and see a psychologist?

Sometimes kids and teens want to come and speak to someone about the difficult time they are having or about how they are feeling. Other times it might be someone else like your mum, dad, teacher or doctor that wants you to come and talk to a psychologist. It can be a big step to come and talk to someone for the first time and it can be even harder when you don’t really want to come, but learning a bit more about what it’s like to see a psychologist can make it a little bit easier.

What will happen when I see a psychologist ?

When you first see a psychologist they will ask you some questions to understand what’s happening in your life and then you and the psychologist can come up with plan of what areas will be most helpful to work on together. Sometimes it might mean learning new skills, solving problems together, learning new ways to deal with difficult situations and learning what helps and what doesn’t help when you don’t feel very good. Sometimes children and teenagers say it feels good just to talk to someone about what’s going on for them and how they are feeling.

Sometimes the psychologist will speak to you alone and sometimes they will speak to your parent or whoever has brought you to see the psychologist. The room you and the psychologist will talk in has lots of fun things to do so it’s not just talking. You might play games together, draw or make stuff and you can sit wherever you like, on the couch on a chair or on the floor! whatever ever you feel most comfortable doing.

Will the psychologist tell others about what we talk about ?

One of the really good things about seeing a psychologist is that what you talk about together is mostly just between you and the psychologist. There are some times when a psychologist must tell someone else about what you have talked about. This is if you or someone else are in danger of being hurt or harmed.

Sometimes your psychologist might think it would be helpful for others (like a parent or teacher) to know some of the things you have been working on together or how you have been feeling so that they can also help you, but your psychologist will ask you first if it’s okay to talk to someone else about these things.

If a doctor has suggested you come and see a psychologist then the psychologist will need to let your doctor know a bit about what you have been working on together and how things are going for you.

If you feel worried about any of these things please talk to your psychologist about your worries because it’s really important to them that you feel comfortable talking to them in private.

How long will I have to see a psychologist ?

Everyone is different, so children and teenagers see a psychologist for different amounts of time. Sometimes it’s just for a few sessions and other times it’s for much longer. It really depends on what you are working on together and how you are going. Your psychologist will talk to you and whoever brings you to sessions about how many session would be good to start of with and then after those sessions you will all decide if more sessions would be helpful.

+ What can the psychologist tell parents/caregiver about what their child or teen says?

We are bound by ethical guidelines as laid down by the Australian Psychological Society, which says that we must keep the information given to us by a client, confidential almost all of the time. The exceptions to this confidentiality rule are if:

• We hear about a person who is experience a significant level of risk
• We hear about a child who is being abused or harm

Are children or teens treated in the same way as adults with respect to confidentially?

To some degree - yes. As psychologists we need to make a judgement as to whether the child/teen is capable of giving what is called informed consent - this means that they understand treatment and how it works. If this is the case, then the child/teen is allowed the same rights to confidentiality as an adult This means that if they request that we do not tell their parents a piece of information, we must respect this decision UNLESS we believe someone is at significant level of risk or if we hear about a child who is being abused or harm.

However, we try very hard to work with families and will usually discuss with the child/teen what we can discuss with parents and guardians and how we can work together.

+ Why do we usually need to have "parent/caregiver only sessions"

We are committed to working closely with the parents/guardians of children and young people at all times - wherever possible.

Why?

Because research clearly tells us that children/teens learn to cope with difficult times, develop life skills and manage emotions more effectively and more quickly when parents/guardians are involved in therapy.

Specifically, we work towards parents/guardians being able to:

• Tell us in an ongoing way about their child/teen and how they are coping
• Know something about the therapy and work being done in sessions with the young person
• Receive support and ideas from us to know how to support and respond to their child/teen at home

In order to best do these things, sometimes we will usually need to have some sessions with parents/caregivers without the child/teen present. This is especially true for parents/guardians of younger children, or for children who are reluctant to attend therapy.

Please be aware that under a child/teen's mental health care plan and when we are seeing a child/teen as their client - there are only two "caregiver/parent only" sessions (i.e. without the child present) per calendar year for which Medicare will provide a rebate. You can have further "parent/caregiver only" sessions beyond these two but these additional parent/caregiver only sessions will not attract a rebate from Medicare and will therefore need to be paid in full.

On the other hand however, we may be working DIRECTLY with a parent/caregiver about their own parenting related distress. In this case, they can use their own Mental health care plan and have access to rebates for all the 6 sessions we see parents for. If this is a little confusing - don't worry - it's not just you, it's a bit complex! Send us an email at admin@developingminds.net.au and we will explain more.

Confidentiality and Building a Relationship with the Young person/child

Although having parents/guardians involved in sessions is a very high priority for us, we also need to prioritise the rapport we have with the child/teen and the young person's rights to confidentiality.

As you can see, your psychologist will be balancing both your child/teen's need for confidentiality and the importance of involving parents/guardians in therapy. This is a delicate balance and fortunately our psychologists have been doing this for many years and are generally very good at it.

Please feel free to ask at any point if you have any concerns and let us know how you think therapy is going.

+ How do you work with children/teens of separated parents?

Please click here for how we work with separated, non-traditional, and blended families.

+ Will therapy "work?" Does it really help?

Research suggests around 70% of young people and their families experience positive change after attending therapy.

Change is most likely to occur when families: attend 5-10 sessions of therapy, complete the "in between session" tasks of therapy, have parents/caregivers involved in therapy (when appropriate).

Please note that therapy is not like "curing a disease" but more like learning a set of new skills to cope with the emotional and mental health challenges children (and adults) experience.

+ How do you use email in therapy?

At Developing Minds we are more than happy to receive emails from you, in fact this is usually the best way to contact our clinicians if you need to speak to us outside an appointment.

There are just a few points to remember:

• Usually we can't email you back due to time constraints (we will usually read it before your session and discuss it further in session.)
• As we can't respond quickly please don't email about safety issues, go to your GP or local hospital.
• If you email us, let us know who knows what or any confidentiality issues so we know if your child/teen knows about the information you told us.

+ Does a Mental Health Care Plan stay "on my record"?

The information recorded about your health by your GP is subject to strict privacy laws and cannot be accessed by any other party in most circumstances. Employers cannot access medical records unless you explicitly provide permission for your file to be accessed and in Australia this occurs very infrequently.

However, insurance companies (eg those providing income protection, life insurance) will sometimes request a report from a GP - and in this case, the fact that you have had a Mental Health Care Plan in place will be noted. It may also be noted that you have visited a psychiatrist, or even just the fact you have expressed mental health concerns to your GP.

At this point in time (and this may change as mental health concerns become less "stigmatised") insurers can then decide whether they decline or restrict insurance based on the information provided.

One other exception is that the armed forces and police do sometimes request medical records from a GP (the applicant must give permission for this to occur) and in this case, any mental health concerns that have been discussed with the GP (whether or not a formal MHCP has been provided) may also be noted within that report.