Little Dove Psychology

A child who puts off homework or needs repeated reminders may be trying harder than you realize.

For kids with ADHD, getting started can be the hardest part. Breaking a task into one small step and doing that first step together with a little patience can make it feel more manageable.

Parents spend so much time caring for everyone else but your wellbeing matters, too.

Little Dove Psychology offers individual therapy, practical parent coaching, and adult ADHD, autism, and dyslexia evaluations. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, burnout, family changes, or challenges at home, support is available for you, not only your child.

Virtual care is available across Texas.

Learn more: littledovepsychology.com/parents

“How do I know if therapy is actually working?”

Parents ask us this all the time. It deserves a better answer than “trust the process.”

Here is ours: every four weeks, our clients complete brief validated questionnaires (the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 for ages 10 and up, a short goal-progress measure for younger kids). Two or three minutes, scored automatically, graphed over time, and reviewed with you.

If the numbers show progress, we keep going. If they don’t, we change something. We would rather know in week eight than in month eight.

Progress you can see, not progress you take on faith. Full blog linked in the comments!

Be Kind to Your Mind

A big thank you to Westlake High School for having Little Dove Psychology at their Health & Wellness Fair!

We loved connecting with students and watching our “What keeps you going?” board fill up with reminders of family, friends, faith, pets, music, goals, and so much more.

Students also got to “Plant a Little Hope” by choosing something they want to grow more of in their lives and taking home seeds as a reminder that small things can grow into something beautiful. 🪴

Thank you, Westlake High School , for creating space for mental health and connection.

***deprevention

Westlake parents: Dr. Kristin Kroll speaks Tuesday, September 15 at 12:00 in the WHS Be Kind to Your Mind parent speaker series, on parent stress and the anxious teen. The written version is up now, with five things to try this week.

Parent Stress and the Anxious Teen | Little Dove Psychology A child psychologist on why a parent's own stress is one of the strongest levers on a teenager's anxiety: what the research shows, how anxiety gets accommodated at home without anyone meaning to, and five things parents can do this week. From the Westlake High School Be Kind to Your Mind parent spea...

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day. 💛

Sometimes the most important thing we can do is simply reach out, check in, and listen.

Asking someone if they’re struggling doesn’t put the idea in their head, it can open the door to a conversation they may have been waiting for.

There is hope. There is support. And no one should have to navigate the hard moments alone.

People matter. Tomorrows matter. 💛

***dePreventionDay ***dePrevention

Big news! 📢
Little Dove Psychology is now in-network with Aetna, UnitedHealthcare/Optum, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas!

We’re excited to make care more accessible to individuals and families across Texas.

Now accepting new patients! Visit our website or scan the QR code above to get started.

littledovepsychology

A study came out in JAACAP this month that I've already sent to three colleagues.

Researchers followed kids around age 10 and screened them for suicidal thoughts for a full year. Some of these kids got asked weekly. Fifty-two times. And their suicidal thinking didn't budge. Not the low-risk kids, not the high-risk kids.

Parents ask me about this constantly. What if the question puts the idea in her head? I understand the fear, I do. But I've asked hundreds of kids by now, and the question has never once created the thought. Kids are not that fragile. The ones who aren't struggling shrug and say no, same as if you'd asked whether they're sleeping okay. Honestly the adults in the room are usually more nervous than the kid.

Then there's the kid who goes quiet.

Every clinician knows that pause. Something they've been carrying for months, sometimes longer, and nobody asked. That silence breaking is where treatment starts. I have never regretted asking. I have regretted waiting.

We build this into everything we do at Little Dove Psychology, and it's a big part of why the consulting work with Children's Wisconsin has meant so much to me these past several years. Jenny Walczak and Amy Herbst have led an effort to screen every child, at every visit. Broken arm, cardiology follow-up, doesn't matter. Early in my career that would have sounded impossible. I've now watched those screens catch kids nobody had flagged, more than once.

If you're a parent sitting with this, ask your kid. Say the actual word. Silence is the riskier option.

Study in the comments.

***deprevention ***depreventionmonth