For families like yours, already navigating the weight of a child’s mental health challenges, the phrase “Mental Health Awareness Month” can feel oddly disconnected from your daily reality. You are not unaware. You have been living inside this for months, maybe years. You know the texture of your child’s anxiety
One of the most common things I hear from parents after their teenager is diagnosed with depression is: “I don’t know what to do about school.” By the time a teen is in my office, they have often been struggling academically for months — and most of that time, nobody
Parents often tell me some version of the same thing: “I know teenagers are moody, but something feels different this time.” They’re not sure whether to be worried or whether they’re overreacting. In my clinical work, that uncertainty is almost always worth taking seriously. The instinct that something has shifted
By: Amanda Garza, Clinical Director Three Rivers Therapy If you have a child with ADHD, you already know meltdowns don’t come out of nowhere. They build. A morning that ran too long. A transition that happened too fast. Homework that ends in tears. As a Clinical Director, I see this pattern every day
Many parents walk into school meetings feeling underprepared — unsure what to ask, what they’re entitled to, or whether the school will take their concerns seriously. Research supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that genuine home-school collaboration for children with ADHD can reduce symptom severity by as much
By: Amanda Garza, Clinical DirectorThree Rivers Therapy In my clinical work, I meet parents, usually mothers who describe a child who has changed. The child who was once curious and talkative has become anxious, withdrawn, and tethered to a screen. Almost always, social media is present in that story. I
If you are parenting a child with mental health or behavioral challenges, you already know what it costs. You have sat in waiting rooms, researched diagnoses at midnight, called schools, called therapists, called insurance companies. You have modulated your own emotions so that you could help regulate theirs. You have
Most parents want desperately to say the right thing to a struggling teen — and most aren’t sure what that is. Research from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and NAMI is clear: the words parents use genuinely matter. Validation — being heard, seen, and understood — is clinically documented
By: Amanda Garza, Clinical Director Three Rivers Therapy You probably already know that your child’s relationship with their phone isn’t simple. Maybe you’ve tried taking it away. Maybe you’ve had the argument a dozen times. The research is clear that outright bans rarely work long-term, but doing nothing isn’t the
If you’re a parent of a child with serious behavioral or mental health challenges, you’ve probably asked yourself some version of this question: Is what we’re doing enough? Weekly therapy is valuable, and for many families, it’s exactly the right level of care. But for others, especially those navigating hospitalizations,
