Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
How do you help a family struggling with school avoidance?
Our goal is to help families feel best supported in navigating all the challenges of school refusal and avoidance. To do this, we provide a range of supportive services designed to meet your needs, using an individualized and evidenced based approach. At the outset we help families identify WHY your child is struggling with school refusal or avoidance. We aim to quickly get you out of crisis mode and address the biggest issues, preventing things from getting worse. This may include connecting you with the right professionals and coordinating with your child’s school. Once out of crisis, we help to continue to move your child’s care along as effectively as possible through several integrated services.
Who is the typical student you work with?
We see students of all abilities from fourth grade through early college years. Our clients are typically students who have great difficulty attending, staying in, or participating in school, which may be due to an underlying mental health condition, learning disability, academic challenge, or transition to a new situation. Our students are full of gifts and strengths, but need support.
How are parents involved in treatment?
Parents often play a vital role and participate in some of the work with us. Parental participation can significantly improve the overall outcome and pace of your child’s progress. We help you understand your child’s behavior. Using a hands-on approach we help you learn and use new ways to respond to your child when they are struggling. For those with younger children, we regularly work with both you and your child. A larger component of your child’s care includes parent training to help decrease your child’s school avoidance. For those with older children: while parents may be included most of the time we only meet with your child in order to help promote their independence. It is important for older students to be able to access support on their own, and learn self-management skills needed to overcome school avoidance.
Can we pick and choose the services we want to access?
Absolutely. If your child is evaluated (assessed) by us, you are under no obligation to utilize our therapists or coaches for ongoing treatment. Alternatively, if you choose to work with one of our coaches, you can access treatment using one of our therapists or through your preferred provider.
Do you see students in-person, or is everything virtual?
At this time most of our services are virtual. However, we are open to chatting about your specific situation and needs that might include in-person services. In the near future, we plan to expand to more in-person services based on current health guidance and community practices.
Are your services covered by insurance?
While we do not directly accept insurance, some of our Psychological Services may be covered by your insurance company as an out of network benefit. More detailed information about insurance reimbursement is included HERE. Coaching, however, is not a medical, mental health or other type of health service, and therefore health insurance companies do not reimburse for coaching services
Psychological Services
What Psychological Services do you offer?
Psychological Services encompass:
In-depth diagnostic assessment and treatment planning to help you understand the root of your child’s school avoidance and refusal and how to actively address it
Short-term intensive treatment to address these challenges
Parenting Support options to help parents determine the best way to respond to and guide their children
Consultation with other professionals who are involved in your child’s school refusal case, when appropriate
If my child is already in therapy, why do I need your services?
While your child may already be in therapy you may find that school avoidance behaviors persist or haven’t been directly addressed. It is challenging for outpatient therapists unfamiliar with school refusal to best identify the issues, or to be able to provide intensive support that may be needed to help your child get to and stay in school. Successful School Transitions can help to pinpoint the specific rationale behind the school refusal behaviors that are maintaining the avoidance, and provide you with specific routines, plans, and in the moment coaching as you need it. We are happy to communicate with your existing therapist, when appropriate to coordinate care.
Coaching
What does the Coaching Service include?
Blocks of one-to-one coaching sessions with our trained coaches to help your child apply therapy strategies in their everyday lives (for example, CBT, exposure, mindfulness, and executive functioning skills)
Coaching to help maintain critical routines in the morning, after school, and at night to keep your child engaged and on track
Regular communication with your therapy team and school to best respond to ongoing needs
What does a typical coaching session look like?
We don’t believe there is a one size fits all approach to coaching. Coaching is most successful when it can be flexibly modified to meet individualized and changing needs of your child. Here are some examples of what may happen in a coaching session:
Assisting in following a learned routine to open up a computer and have all materials ready
Prompting and encouragement to do “therapy HW” that may include doing a repeated exposure to something anxiety-provoking
Help following a relaxation meditation to promote sleep and the bedtime routine
Texting during the walk to school, reminding your child of past successes of entering their school building
Guiding them to fill out a graphic organizer before writing a paper, to break down steps and prioritize tasks
To learn more about coaching and coaching sessions, CLICK HERE
How is coaching different from traditional therapy or tutoring?
Our coaches work to help students apply therapeutic strategies into their daily lives and improve their overall functioning. Unlike tutors, who tend to focus on a particular subject, coaches are skilled in providing support, consistency, and accountability to help your child succeed.
How do your coaches communicate with us and others involved in our child’s life?
Our coaches communicate with parents and the treatment team via email to review the strategies used, steps that were taken, and goals that were achieved. The composition of the treatment team (e.g., parents, outside providers, teachers) is discussed at the start or Coaching and can be adjusted as needed. This helps to ensure that the coaching plan best serves your child’s needs. Additional team meetings with the Directors can also be scheduled as needed. Our coaches communicate with parents and the treatment team via email to review the strategies used, steps that were taken, and goals that were achieved. The composition of the treatment team (e.g., parents, outside providers, teachers) is discussed at the start or Coaching and can be adjusted as needed. This helps to ensure that the coaching plan best serves your child’s needs. Additional team meetings with the Directors can also be scheduled as needed.)
How often should my child meet with your coaches and how many coaching sessions should I book in advance?
The amount and frequency of coaching sessions that your child may need will be highly individualized. We will work with you to help determine what is recommended.