Connecting while your teen is in treatment

Having a child in treatment can be an isolating and lonely experience for many parents. While the child is away in residential care, the family does its best to carry on with daily life. Moriah Behavioral Health wants to bridge that gap by bringing the family close to the program and fostering a connection and a sense of community.

We are working hard to constantly improve the quality of our programs, as well as the experience our families have while a child is in treatment. Our parent engagement programs include the weekly parent cafe (led by Moriah clinicians), the bi-weekly psychoeducation meetings, and the monthly academic support meeting (led by the academic team).

We recently asked alumni parents to share their experiences from our parent cafe, psychoeducation and academic support meetings. Here is some of what they had to say.

“I have not attended parent meetings as part of my child’s behavioral health treatment before coming to Moriah.I tried to attend as often as my schedule allowed, I would say a couple of times a month. I found the meetings to be extremely helpful and supportive. They were a safe place to share concerns and feelings with others who understand. I think the meetings help families maintain a united front when supporting a child’s mental well-being. I am so appreciative of the resources available to the families–the Parent Cafes, the monthly academic meets, and the educational seminars. All of those provided me with the tools I needed to help support my child in and out of treatment.” – Anonymous Alumni Parent 1

Another alumni parent agreed that Moriah’s alumni community itself was a good resource for finding tools and support.

“(I attended) as much as I could, at least 2 times per month. I think the consistency is what has been really nice with Moriah. Meetings are never canceled and are always at the same time. That is super helpful with scheduling and being mentally prepared to go to a meeting. Having a child in treatment is such an isolating experience that being able to talk to people with a similar reality is so important. There is also not very much good information online or resources to tap into as a parent to benefit the parent. (The meetings) really have had an incredible impact. My child’s experience at Moriah was very good, but having the support there to deal with the ‘bad days’ and setbacks makes me more prepared to deal with them. I really like all the reminders from staff that there is no magic pill that makes everything ok and it will be a long-term challenge for most families.” – Anonymous Alumni Parent 2

Of course, not every parent attends every meeting and not every parent finds them equally invaluable, but we are proud that so many Moriah parents are appreciative of the parent engagement programs and the experience. One parent suggested that we incorporate more handouts related to the topics we cover in the weekly sessions, like how to handle phone calls with your child while they are in treatment. We love this suggestion and truly believe that feedback from our families is what makes Moriah grow and improve!