Ensuring a child’s mental health and well-being is one of the most critical duties of a parent. If your child is struggling with anxiety, ADHD, emotional meltdowns, or problems at school or with friends, children behavioural health services can help.
This guide is intended to provide parents with information about behavioural health services for children.
Why Early Behavioural Health Support Is So Important
We always teach our children about emotions, relationships, and navigating their environment. Although occasional mood swings, temper tantrums or social awkwardness are regular, consistent or intense problems, they can be an early sign of emotional or behavioural difficulties that need attention.
Early intervention can address these problems before they escalate into larger issues. Behaviour support should aid in developing healthy coping skills, increasing emotional regulation, and building better relations with family and peers. In other words, it can lay the groundwork for mental well-being.
Conceptual Model of Children’s Behavioural Health
Child behavioural health services are intended to meet children's emotional, psychological, and developmental needs through various support services. These services can range from child development therapy to parent coaching, counselling, or crisis intervention.
Support can be provided in any number of denominations—homes, schools, outpatient clinics, or community programs—and individualized to each child’s particular challenges and strengths.
Community-Based Behavioral Health Interventions (CBHI)
Children who suffer from moderate to severe emotional and behavioral challenges receive comprehensive community-based services designed to deliver behavioral and emotional support to them. These services are:
- Family-centered: Emphasizing the importance of caregivers in a child’s success.
- Strength-based: Focused on increasing what the child and their families already do well.
- Culturally respectful: Respectful of and responsive to the values, beliefs, health behaviors, and needs of diverse population groups.
Common offerings include:
In-Home Therapy (IHT)
A clinician with a Master's Degree level of education works one-on-one with the child and family in the home dealing with situations such as anxiety, aggression, trauma etc. It’s a family therapy that is focused on family dynamics and provides tangible coping skills.
Therapeutic Mentoring (TM)
A trained paraprofessional gradually assists children in developing social skills and confidence by working with them in community settings. It is used in conjunction with therapy to strengthen learned behaviors outside of therapy.
Therapeutic Training and Support (MA TTS)
This service is designed to assist parents and caregivers with tools in order to address their child’s behaviors. It provides families an opportunity to establish more routine at home, which makes children feel safe and empowered.
Outpatient Therapy and Support
Regarding outpatient therapy and support, devils and angels exist in the details. Options typically include:
- One-on-One Practitioner Sessions: Customized practices – exploring emotions, thoughts and behaviors.
- Family Therapy: Concerns the family's support to the child and relational difficulties.
- Group Therapy: Provides a protected environment to communicate with other people dealing with the same situations.
Such services frequently provide classic mental health care for conditions such as anxiety, depression, trauma, ADD and behavioural issues.
Emergency and Crisis Services
Children presenting with depressive illness are a psychiatric emergency and should never be neglected. What are the services provided in a crisis intervention program?
- 24-hour hotlines for immediate advice.
- Mobile crisis teams that can go to the child’s school, home or community.
- Triage to define the level of care that would be needed.
These services are particularly crucial where a person is experiencing suicidal thoughts, is self-harming, is engaging in aggressive behaviour or is in a high state of emotional distress.
Family Support and Navigational Services
It’s often difficult for parents to navigate complex systems regarding mental health, particularly when juggling careers, raising children, and feeling overwhelmed. This is where family navigation is crucial.
Family Partners
These are skilled advocates who often have firsthand experience with the system as parents. They:
- Walk families through intake process
- Aid in the creation of care plans
- Assist in coordinating services across agencies
- Provide peer support and motivation
Parent Education and Advocacy
Many of these networks also provide training workshops, run support groups, or coach families in advocacy so parents can better interact with schools and health care providers.
Behavioral Health Support in the School
Schools are a front line in addressing, recognizing and enhancing mental health. They provide the following, INVALUABLE:
- Behavioral evaluations: Done by experts to look for classroom performance.
- IEPs and 504 Plans: These guarantee accommodations and structured support for children with behavioral or emotional challenges.
- Continued communication between school personnel, mental health providers, and families.
Collaboration between families and schools provides children with a cohesive system of support across settings, which is critical for sustaining behavior change.
Early Childhood and Parenting Programs
Services for younger children often consist of:
- Screenings to detect if your child is behind in speech, social skills or self-regulation.
- Playgroups based on the parent-child relationship that integrate therapeutic elements.
- In-home, professional visits for direction on parenting strategies.
- Behavior management, positive discipline, and child development workshops and classes.
Multilingual, Culture-Specific Care
The families are of different language and cultural backgrounds. And successful children behavioural health services are those that:
- Provide services in languages other than the dominant to meet the needs of non-English speaking families.
- Hire staff trained in cultural humility and get normal cultural differences into parenting and mental health.
- Make sure the treatment respects the family’s values and beliefs.
Flexible and Affordable Choices for Every Family
Mental health should not be a privilege. Thankfully, several programs provide:
- Sliding Fee Scale (Fee Is Based On Income and Other Factors)
- Free or grant-funded services
- Telemedicine for remote care
- Evenings and weekends for working parents
The Way to Get Behavioral Health Care
Finding the proper support can seem complicated, but breaking the process into steps can make it more manageable:
- Begin with an assessment: You’ll do an initial screening to determine the most appropriate services.
- Ask your child’s school: School-based counsellors can offer observations about behaviour and connect you with other resources.
- Contact behavioral health providers: Inquire about possible services, such as in-home therapy, outpatient counseling, or crisis support.
- Network with other parents: Peer groups and navigators are a way to navigate paperwork along waitlists and referrals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does therapy differ from therapeutic mentoring?
Treatment is a formal process that is profoundly personal but generally plays out in structured sessions between a patient and a licensed clinician to address a patient’s physical or psychological conditions. Therapeutic mentoring is less formal and emphasises teaching social and behavioural skills in natural settings, often by example and suggestion.
Must my child have a diagnosis to receive services?
No, a formal diagnosis is not always needed. Questions about emotional control, behaviour, or social skills are justifiable reasons to have an evaluation or initiate services.
Can parents be involved in therapy?
Absolutely. Parent involvement is among the most powerful predictors of a positive result. Many services ask for regular family sessions, training, and check-ins.
What takes place in a crisis intervention?
Crisis teams will evaluate how immediate the risk is to your child and their state of mind. If needed, they might provide de-escalation tactics, suggest next steps, or facilitate a connection with schools and hospitals.
