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The Center for Effective Therapy at The Baker Center for Children and Families places great value on providing the highest quality of evidence-based care for all. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a gold-standard treatment designed for children between the ages of 2-7 who experience behavioral challenges, ADHD, trauma, anxiety, ASD< attachment challenges, and social skills difficulties, and it was traditionally administered in person. The COVID-19 pandemic created unexpected shifts in the ways that our clinicians, and clinicians all over the world, provide treatment, and PCIT was no exception. Where sessions previously had taken place in clinics, PCIT was being delivered via telehealth to provide continued access to care during a global emergency.

We know that caregiver burnout can lead caregivers to feeling alienated, exhausted, stressed, anxious, and even depressed. When you’re taking care of others, it can sometimes feel like the demands never end, and your own well-being can fall to the wayside. When you’re already feeling burnt-out, being told to practice self-care can feel frustrating, because who has the time to do one more thing when you’re doing a million things for your family and your job already. Self-care can feel like another responsibility that you just don’t have the time for.

Being a parent can be stressful even during the best of times. Raising kids requires a lot of time and energy that goes into taking care of others emotionally and physically, in ways that naturally stretch beyond the care that you would just have to provide for yourself. Instead of scheduling just your own doctor’s appointments or cooking your own meals, you’re probably doing these things for your whole family. Instead of managing the time and finances of yourself, and maybe your partner, with kids you take on the responsibility of planning for them too. It can be easy to feel like your life has become about others, and to lose sight of your own well-being as you’re keeping the family afloat.

This is an interview with Tessa Palafu, Senior Implementation Research Assistant at our Implementation Research Division. Tessa recently celebrated two years working at The Baker Center!

Some children may experience teasing for not celebrating the dominant holiday, or they may feel left out or ashamed by not engaging in the same holiday traditions as their peers. For young kids, seeing signs of the dominant holiday all around them in these months, but not having that incorporated into the family environment can be emotionally challenging, and it is important to have open conversations with your kids about the reasons why your traditions might be different.