What Typically Happens...
Talk about a difficult, and often times frustrating experience. Here is a situation where people are telling you that your child has "behavioral problems," and needs to be evaluated for ADHD, yet so many questions follow:
- Where do you start?
- Who do you see?
- Who do you reach out to for help?
- How do you know you are getting a qualified expert?
- What type of information are you going to find out?
- How much time will you get with a psychiatrist?
- Does your child need therapy in addition to medication (if you choose that)?
- Who takes your insurance?
- What if it's not ADHD? (Do you even think that's possible)?
Talk about an overwhelming experience! And the questions above don't even consider all the thoughts racing through your head if you are a single parent, or if you are struggling financially, or are not aware of the alternatives.
How do you start, and where do you begin?
Two common approaches:
1. Call your physician - who recommends someone.
2. School professional makes a referral to a local clinic or office.
While referrals are important - how do you know who you are seeing? What arrangements have people made? How qualified is the person you are seeing?
Let's be honest, we trust qualified professionals without considering the answers to our questions. And we quite possibly trust these professionals without even wondering who we are seeing - or what their experience is.
A third option:
Many people also call their insurance companies first - looking for help.
Are you overwhelmed yet?
I sure am from thinking about this process!
Just consider the steps involved with this process, and you have not even seen anyone yet. You still don't know what's going on.
And now you are informed that it will be at least 6-8 weeks before there is an opening to meet with a child psychiatrist... But, your child's pediatrician might offer to see him or her in the meantime and offer to do a brief evaluation and prescribe some medications.
Lesson here - there is a process within this system.
Both medical and mental health professionals are accustomed to doing things a certain way. There is paperwork to be filled out, certain criteria to be met, and common diagnoses and medications to be given.
The worst part of all this - what do you do in the meantime?
How do you get your sanity back and know what is going on for sure?
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