Needham Pediatrics May is Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

As we head into the warmer spring and summer months, it is important as ever to slow down and assess you and your child’s state of mental health.

Complete a mental health check in periodically with yourself and/or your child. Do you notice feeling stress, anxiety, worry, sadness, or other challenging emotions? Try keeping track of these varying emotions in a journal or using a simple mood tracker (rating your mood on a scale of 1 to 10 daily) to assess any changes in mental health.

We acknowledge the reality of scarce providers offering affordable services. It can be a time-consuming task to identify a mental health provider for your child.

If you are interested in pursuing a long-term mental health provider for your child in the community, we suggest the following tips and strategies:

Keep in mind the following points to ensure success:

• Get on any waitlists that are offered. Some providers or practices offer waitlists with estimated times to receive services. It is always a good idea to get on waitlists offered to you.
• Remain consistent with follow up even if you are not able to connect with someone directly or are placed on a wait list. Making regular calls to check the status of your place on the waitlist or inquire about openings due to cancellations can significantly increase the chances of being seen in a timely way.
• Pursue several providers and agencies at once based on the needs discussed with your providers. This maximizes odds of getting connected to a particular service. You can always cancel or remove yourself from a waitlist once you establish care with a provider.
• Contact a referral service – The following agencies create and manage a network of therapists and aid families in identifying a provider and connecting. These services are highly sought after, but can be important part of the plan to identify a provider
  • *William James College Interface Referral Service: https://interface.williamjames.edu/
  • Search and BH resources in MA: https://massachusetts.networkofcare.org/mh/
  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us
  • https://zencare.co/
  • https://mentalhealthmatch.com/
  • Therapyden.com – inclusive, progressive, and gender-affirming therapist directory

*Note: only available to certain towns and cities. Check website for eligibility. Search providers directly through the following websites. Often you can search according to filters that are most relevant, including client age, clinician specialty and types of insurances/payments accepted

As a reminder, Needham Pediatrics offers short term behavioral/mental health evaluation and skill building. Please call us at 781-444-7186 x258.