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Telehealth allows for increased access to care, providing a flexible option for families, and allows for exposure work in the home setting where compulsions may be the strongest. Yet, telehealth does not come without challenges.

As parents we don’t like or want to see our children struggling. But worries, fears and anxieties are a natural part of life, and we have to understand that children go through these processes just like adults do. But as parents and caregivers, we should also be in tune with the degree, severity, frequency, and nature of our children’s fears and worries and know when a child might need some help.

In 2009 I decided to step out of my comfort zone and open a solo private practice. I’ve enjoyed the last 15 years in private practice, and looking back, there are some choices I made that were on point, some that were errors in judgements, but all were learning experiences.

Fear is one of the six basic human emotions, with a clear evolutionary purpose: to help us respond to danger and survive. In Exposure Therapy, providers create a safe environment to intentionally “expose” their clients to objects, activities, or situations they fear.

Now that telehealth and in-person services are available, what are important factors for clinicians, youth, and families to consider?

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

If your child has seen coverage of such an event, make sure you talk with them about what they think about it and how they think it impacts their life and the world around them.  

Many mental health professionals are now conducting patient visits virtually. I am one of the only psychologists left in my building who has stayed behind to continue in-person work while abiding by COVID protocols. Since our practice specializes in refractory OCD spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders a lot of the work done at our outpatient clinic requires in-vivo exposures, which cannot be replicated on Zoom.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a significant factor in the deterioration of mental health in children, but the long-term effects of COVID-19 on children's mental health has yet to be seen.

One of the biggest adversities children have faced in quarantine is social isolation from their peers. Schooling and extracurricular activities associated with long-term education plans were the first to go during the shutdown, as the highest priority was to protect children from the spread of the virus. While necessary for the safety of the public, this has shown to have devastating effects on pediatric mental health.