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Parenting The Chronically Ill: Therapy
Mental health is important too
Having a chronically ill child means lots of doctors and medications, physical and occupational therapies. Lots of accommodations at home at at school are made. Their physical health is important and of the utmost concern, but what about their mental health??? Where does that fall, in the days and weeks when there already aren’t enough hours?
I’ve written previously about Bit and her mental health struggles. We made weekly therapy a priority for her, she needs it. She needs to learn coping skills at 9, not at 29. Her illness is chronic, it is unfair, she’s allowed to be angry, sad, anxious, all the things. However, she needs to learn to accept it, and live her best life, whatever that looks like.
So we (as a family) see a health psychologist. Sometimes she meets with all of us, sometimes just Bit and sometimes just parents. It helps us figure out how to help her, and help her help herself. It helps us all cope with the anger, the grief, the unfairness of chronic illness.
Bit like Mom is bad at using her feeling words, at least out loud. She has been taught to write or draw them. We’re slowly amassing notebooks of comics that talk about her anxiety, her anger, her desires to not have her body, all of it. It’s helpful in her processing and accepting, and even trying to…
