Ask the Team: What Should I Expect from a Parent/Caregiver Joint Session?
We are back today with another edition of, Ask the Team! Not only do our clinicians collaborate on client care and treatment with each of our clients, but we also collaborate with parents and caregivers! Today, we are covering what parents and caregivers can expect in a joint session with your adolescent or young adult treatment team.
Ask the Team: What Should I Expect from a Parent/Caregiver Joint Session?
At Collaborative Counseling and Nutrition (CCN), we believe collaboration is essential to our client’s recovery. Our team of experienced professionals works together on their behalf, ensuring coordinated care that is centered around their goals. Having an adolescent or young adult child with an eating disorder can be incredibly scary and difficult. While we appreciate the amount of available resources around eating disorders and eating disorder recovery, it can feel overwhelming and challenging to sift through all the information to find what would be best for your child.
This is where our collaborative approach comes into play.
Learn Why It’s Important to Work with a Dietitian AND Therapist
We complete a thorough assessment (this can take a few sessions to complete) to understand your adolescent or young adult’s unique needs and goals. From there, we develop an individualized treatment plan integrating other current or recommended team members.
Then we have a meeting with parents or caregivers to review everything, answer questions, and learn more about your child. We ensure clear communication of treatment expectations, roles, and session frequency. Having support as your adolescent/young adult navigates recovery is crucial. It’s important to have the opportunity to understand how you can best support your child through this process! Below are some questions and topics of discussion you might encounter in a parent/caregiver session.
What our team wants to learn from you:
things are you noticing at home that are concerning
what your adolescent or young adult was like as a kid and how have they changed as they’ve grown up/started utilizing their eating disorder
what you believe their strengths are
what challenges you see them facing at school/extracurriculars/in social settings
how food, bodies, exercise, and emotions are discussed in the home
your expectations and/or goals for their treatment and work with our team
What our team wants to share with you
education on eating disorders, including levels of care, barriers to recovery, and more
the role emotions and environment play (and why we say eating disorders are emotional management systems)
what our team is noticing in your child
our recommendations for quality care and treatment
preferred method of communication
resources to learn more
Learn the 10 Things Your Clinician Wants You To Know About Your Child’s Eating Disorder
Our team will schedule this meeting after the 3-5th session with your adolescent or young adult, and again every 3-6 months depending on your child’s needs. Regular team meetings allow us to assess progress and update your child’s treatment plan as needed to meet their recovery goals and ensure everyone is on the same page. We are committed to providing client-centered care that is safe, effective, and consistent, addressing root causes to offer long-term, sustainable solutions.
Moving Forward
If your child is struggling with an eating disorder and needs help, feel free to reach out to the CCN team today to schedule a consult and learn how to work with our team!
