Full length episode on YouTube here or anywhere you get your podcasts: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD1V...

You don't have to use scary diagnostic language. You might say, "I wonder if this kiddo might benefit from a sensory evaluation" or ease them into understanding that there might be more going on than just "misbehaving."

You can read more on issues like these on my Substack: lnkd.in/eaDePP2v

What does the child do? What are the parents fighting about when it comes to parenting? Often, both parents are picking up on something real, even if they can't articulate what it is.

Widen the lens. Ask questions about the child.

You are a clinical diagnostician. You've been trained in assessment (though many of us were trained poorly in neurodivergence, so seek additional training by people with lived experience). Be curious about the whole system.

What Therapists Need to Know:

For therapists working with parents who seem overly anxious, find parenting overwhelming or even don't like it, or are afraid to go to the park because of how their kids act—don't assume the parent doesn't care or has social anxiety.

It's not for everyone—people need to be able to engage interpersonally and be open to feedback and the unexpected.

Group Psychotherapy is an affordable, accessible way to access therapeutic support from qualified mental health professionals. To learn more, DM me to learn more about group sessions.

Group Psychotherapy is an affordable, accessible way to access therapeutic support from qualified mental health professionals. To learn more, DM us for the link to learn more and register for group sessions.

-The "Emotional Lab": Group provides a practice arena for skills you're learning in individual therapy. You can test out new ways of being in a safe container with immediate feedback.

-Real-Time Feedback: Group members trust and take in feedback from peers differently than from therapists. When someone in a group says, "You do this thing where you apologize after everything you say," it lands differently than when a therapist says it.

-Multiple Transferences: In individual therapy, you might successfully avoid certain types of people or dynamics. In a group, they show up—the person who reminds you of your critical mother, the one who triggers your people-pleasing, the one whose confidence you envy.

Group therapy does things individual therapy simply cannot:

But I get the resistance. Most people think, "It can't be as good as individual therapy, right?"

Wrong.

And when it works, the results seem to hold, too.

The solutions clients find for themselves are often innovative and surprising--to both of us.

I wrote a bit about it here in case your're curious about it, or your therapist has offered it, and you aren't so sure...

Subscribe to my Substack to read more about relationships and how they're impacted by the social container and culture we're sitting in: shifthappenscollective.substack.com

Sometimes, the most insidious thing that happens is that your truth is never acknowledged. When we suppress our own thoughts and feelings, we know it takes a toll on our physical and mental health.

It’s not always physical abuse. Often, it’s what we call coercive control—a slow erosion of autonomy through monitoring, isolation, and subtle threats. You start second-guessing yourself. Diminishing your needs. Shrinking to keep the peace.

And when they name it, they’re often met with gaslighting, excuses, deflection, or silence. They are asked to hold and take more seriously the experiences of everyone but themselves.