Child therapists see high demand for mental health services

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, child therapists are experiencing all-time high demand for mental health services for kids and teens.

Alison Ratner Mayer, an independent clinical social worker, and owner of Child Therapy Boston, currently has about 50 children on her waiting list at her Needham location, which reopened last September after being physically closed for more than a year due to COVID.

In December, she opened another location in Sudbury. Before the doors were even open, there was a 30-person waitlist, Mayer told Boston 25 News Monday. Mayer has about 25 therapists on her staff, both part- and full-time, but she’s trying to hire more to keep up with the demand.

Those therapists are helping children and teens cope with depression, often caused by pandemic isolation, as well as anxiety, brought on by concerns about safety and general uncertainty in an unpredictable world.

“Kids are struggling with everything that’s happened,” Mayer said. “We’re getting a lot of requests for therapy because of anxiety. We’re seeing families struggle with how to parent their kids through this. So, relationships are struggling. Kids are feeling dysregulated. It’s just overwhelming for a lot of them.”

The demand for services is so high Mayer is encouraging families to try group therapy, often while they wait for individual sessions.

“At least, [a group session] will give them some kind of therapeutic intervention in the meantime,” Mayer said. “Sometimes, it turns out that that’s enough. I mean, being with other kids and experiencing that they’re not alone in what they’re going through is tremendously powerful.”

Mayer urges parents to look for the signs of a decline in mental health in their kids, from changes in sleep patterns to a lack of interest in activities and engagement with others to general sadness, irritability, and tantrums.

“If it’s something that’s lasting or getting in the way of their everyday life – making them not want to go to school, making them not want to be with friends, making them not want to engage – then it’s time to seek help,” Mayer said.

To encourage kids to discuss what they are feeling, Mayer advises parents to do something interactive with their kids that doesn’t require face-to-face communication – a puzzle, a book, or art, for example. Reassuring them their feelings are normal and helping them feel in control of their lives are also critical. While the decline in mental health is concerning, Mayer is encouraged that families are seeking help at all.

“I think part of the reason we’re so busy is that I think the stigma is starting to disappear. I think people feel more comfortable reaching out for help now,” Mayer said. “Even just in regular conversation, people are saying and throwing around, ‘Oh, my therapist,’ or, ‘My kids’ therapist said that we should try this at home.’ And it just feels so much more casual, and I just am seeing that throughout life now.”

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