Though Therapy and Fun is all about the children, here at Comprehensive Therapy Center, we don’t forget about the parents and guardians.
Every Tuesday morning during the summer program we host a free workshop on a topic relevant to raising children with special needs. (For more information on this year’s workshops, check out the post here.)
This week’s workshop was Partner with your Health Care Provider. Kristen Hawkins of the Michigan Family to Family Health Information Center shared tips on creating successful partnerships with your child’s health care providers.
What struck me the most was the phrase “assume good intentions.” Sometimes, in the battle to make sure our child’s needs are being met by the best people for the job, we forget that our physician’s assistants, nurses, and doctors really do have our children’s best interests at heart. It’s amazing how a shift in mindset, followed by a conscious decision to practice gratefulness, can go a long ways in establishing successful partnerships.
Here are some more of her tips:
We also engaged in a fantastic exercise pioneered by Christin Lind (and used, with permission, from her website), that I’d recommend to everyone: creating a care map. In the example pictured below, you can see below the branches for School, Info/Advocacy & Leadership, Recreation & Community, Legal & Financial, Support, and Health. That’s a lot of partnerships to put energy into and navigate; no wonder our families can get so tired!
We had a great turnout and some fantastic discussion. Thanks so much, Kristen, and everyone who came out to hear her speak yesterday morning. Our parent group has been an important part of Therapy & Fun this year and we were very glad to share it with all of you. We hope to see you next year!
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