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Awareness of mental health considerations for children and teens who are diagnosed with chronic conditions is important for caregivers. But when you notice that your child may be struggling, where do you start?

Children and teens who live with chronic physical health conditions are understood to be at greater risk for mental health issues than their peers without chronic illness. Whether the child was diagnosed with a physical health condition at birth, or if the diagnosis was acquired later in life, the ongoing experience of illness or difficulty with health can be a stressor on the child.

This is an interview with a real family who received telehealth services at The Center for Effective Therapy.

When your child reaches the age where they are beginning to develop an interest in intimate and romantic relationships, it can feel difficult to know how to start a conversation about it.

Feeling love, having both emotional and physical attraction to others, and seeking close companionship is a large part of the human experience. It is common for kids as young as five-years-old to begin talking about crushes they have on peers and becoming curious about relationships. However, these expressions may reflect feelings of closeness to their crush, rather than true romantic attraction. Young kids' ideas of relationships may come from movies, fairy tales, and the romantic relationships they watch play out for parents or other adults. Essentially, they understand that people want to spend time with their partners and like them as a person. At a young age, it is easy to confuse this for any close relationship they may have with friends, a babysitter, or even parents.