Natasha Kendal, Ph.D., L.M.F.T.

Individual Couple & Family Therapy | Intensive Home & School-Based Parent Coaching

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Why I Think Summer is a great time to engage in Psychotherapy

As many of us are wrapping up our school year, our thoughts naturally turn to endless warm summer days, family trips, in-scheduled afternoons, and ice cream trucks (ok, maybe the last one is just me). However, I want to propose a somewhat unorthodox use of our children’s summer months – psychotherapy. Here is a short list of reasons why summer is a great time to help kids identity their mental health and social issues and take concrete steps to remedy them:

1. Everyone is breathing a little easier in the summer – there is no homework, some sports/hobbies/recreational programs are done and days are longer and more enjoyable. Kids have more time and space to think, talk, try on new skills, and process – all crucial to the success of therapy.

2. Our clinicians’ schedules are more open and flexible – you will be able to see your favorite therapist twice a week in the summer, whether in our Bloomfield Hills office on in your home with our home-based program.

3. Kids and parents can try something new without undue pressure of school and homework. This might be a new approach to something, a new routine or schedule, or even a new mediation or supplement. It is crucial to give kids an opportunity to practice the new thoughts and skills that are discussed in therapy, and coming in more regularly will give them ample time to do so.

4. There is more leisure and opportunity to practice social skills and newly developing emotional regulation with friends at camps, by the pool, or at home – without the feeling that permanent damage is being potentially done to the long-term relationships with school friends.

If I convinced you to give summer therapy a try – please call our front desk to schedule your intake session today at 248-536-4641 or email me at kendal@drkendalandassociates.com to discuss your options.

Our Bloomfield Hills office (www.drkendalandassociates.com) accepts new patients with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Care Network and out of network insurances, and has daytime openings.

Our home based program, Your Parenting Coach (www.yourparentingcoachmi.com) has daytime, evening and weekend openings for parent coaching for summer and beyond.

ADHD Diagnosis – Why Does it Feel Like a Total Stab in the Dark?

For every child and adult who is correctly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, there is another child and adult who is improperly diagnosed with ADHD (and potentially mis-medicated for it), and another child and adult who has ADHD who is not diagnosed at all, or diagnosed with something totally different. So, what makes this diagnosis so tricky?

Probably the number one reason for this difficulty is that the patient him/herself rarely reports distress, unless they are either significantly older or the disorder is quite severe. Simply put, their brain has always worked in this way, and they think it is normal. They do not recognize their ADHD as anything out of the ordinary. It is their parents, teachers and spouses who are the ones complaining, not the patients themselves.

Secondly, ADHD can present behaviorally like several other conditions, mostly commonly:

  1. Anxiety. And this is a tricky one – often, anxiety and ADHD co-exist, and one is addressed and/or medicated, the other has a tendency to increase in severity. Additionally, unaddressed ADHD can LEAD to anxiety, as the patient feels more and more behind at school and at work; as important papers keep getting misplaced, and as they continue getting in trouble for “forgetting” important due dates and their constant lateness and messiness.
  2. Depression. When a person has to live with unremitting anxiety and fears of being in trouble or ridiculed for their shortcomings, they might slip into depression.
  3. Substance Abuse. Many patients with Attention Deficit Disorder reach for substances, both legal and illegal, to make themselves feel a little better. They soon find that they like the feeling of being high, and that they can blame their failures at school and at work on intoxication (at least to themselves), and therefore spare themselves the embarrassment and shame of constant failure. Some even swear that drugs make their ADHD better.
  4. Social problem. This may include various conditions, such as the mild end of the Autistic Spectrum. When a child fails to attend to social cues from a very early age, they grow up deficient in social niceties and the basic understand of how human interactions work. They may appear like they don’t care about how they ought to behave, but they may actually care deeply – they just may be able to pay attention long enough to learn.
  5. Behavior problems. Violence towards siblings and parents, temper tantrums, yelling, swearing – the lot. Children with ADHD also often lack the ability to pay attention to their own feelings, emotions and bodily needs. They rarely know when they are hungry or tired, they cannot tell you that they are scared or anxious, they won’t share what makes them sad – but they will act out all of these emotions, and often in a very negative way.

So, what do I recommend a parent do? First, get educated about ADHD – the resources out there in 2019 are fabulous. Here are a few to get you started:

  1. https://chadd.org/–  CHADD – a non-profit organization with classes and resources dedicated to improving the lives of patients with ADHD and their families.
  2. Books, such as Dr. Amen’s “Healing ADD”. https://www.amazon.com/Healing-ADD-Revised-Breakthrough-Program/dp/0425269973/ref=pd_ybh_a_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KPX3MAJ02ZY91DYPFDXD
  3. And Dr. Hallowell’s “Delivered from Distraction”. https://www.amazon.com/Delivered-Distraction-Getting-Attention-Disorder/dp/034544230X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2VG0W0N50P20L&keywords=delivered+from+distraction+by+hallowell&qid=1554404185&s=books&sprefix=Delivered+f%2Cstripbooks%2C194&sr=1-1

Additionally, we at Your Parenting Coach (www.yourparentingcoachcmi.com) and Dr. Natasha Kendal and Associates (www.drkendalandassociates.com) are here to help – home-based, school-based and office-based evaluation and treatment options are available.

Using Senses to Soothe

“I go into nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order”

  – John Buroughs

Life is a multi-sensory event. Many people are familiar with the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Balance and body movement, and body awareness are two additional senses that influence the unique ways in which each of us experience the world. Activities that engage our sense regulate our mind and body on a cellular level. This blog article will highlight some ways in which spending time outdoors can benefit the mind and body for people at any age and stage of development.

Stepping outside is a quick coping skill for people of any age to regulate the nervous system. Going from inside to outside offers a change of scenery to refocus our attention. Our lungs expand as oxygen from the air and trees circulates through our body and up into our brain, improving mood, attention, and focus. When asked to imagine a calming scene, most often people picture a scene from nature. Studies have supported that even looking at a picture of a tree lowers the body’s stress response (Glawell, Brown, Wood, Sandercock, and Barton, 2013). We are able to feel the temperature change as the sun shines on our face. We notice the breeze as it blows through out hair. The sky is its own visual masterpiece. Laying on the grass with your child, watching the clouds move across the sky, is a simple strategy to practice deep breathing, co-regulation, and relationship building. When our body is calm, we are able to think more clearly.

Working with young children has helped me to appreciate the vibrant experience of spending time outdoors, and to witness the dynamic impact that simply being outside can have upon mental and physical health, emotional regulation, and child development. One way or another, children will find a way to meet their developmental needs. Environment does not often dictate where children  will scream, climb, jump, throw, crash, tumble, rebel, and create mess. The rules of the indoors require many children to exercise greater emotional and physical control than their biology can tolerate. I have worked with many children who seem out of control both physically and emotionally in their home and school environments. When confined in the four walls of a building, these children often rebel against the constant barrage of limits placed upon them. Outdoors, they are allowed to ‘break the rules’ in a contained way.

I am often able to observe children playing at recess. I love seeing children running around and screaming at the top of their lungs. The liberation they feel from no longer having to ‘use their indoor voice’, and the release they feel when they get to scream out their emotions is visible. For some children, being outside barefoot is enough to satisfy their need for rebellion. Creating a mess or getting dirty is another restriction placed upon children in an indoor setting, for many understandable reasons; however, children still need outlets to interact with their environment in ways that are not always tidy or tightly controlled. Playing in dirt, water, or rain is another form of ‘rebellion’ that activates the sensory system.

The ways in which children become alive, expressive, curious, and calm through this kind of play is therapeutic. With repeated engagement with the outdoors in a manner that awakens our senses, the entire body, brain, and spirit become more deeply connected and more fully alive. As you are planning your summer activities, don’t forget to include your backyard as a place to explore.

Written by: Jessica Hendon

Life Coaching Vs. Psychotherapy

I am sometimes asked about life coaching versus psychotherapy. Coaching is at its source a technique of cognitive behavior therapy. Within the psychotherapy I practice, I often employ a certain amount of coaching with my clients, helping them achieve their life goals in situations when I think that this method will be helpful.

Both life coaches and psychotherapists may be helpful to clients. Either may help a person by listening, offering practical advice, and helping someone visualize and realize certain potentials.

What is the difference between employing certain coaching techniques within psychotherapy and offering life coaching as a complete solution? I think the difference may be best illustrated by highlighting the actual differences in requirements, training and licensure. Bear in mind, I am an advocate of coaching in many situations, in fact my program, Your Parenting Coach, is itself a coaching program for parents, although facilitated only by licensed mental health professionals.

Here are some differences in standards for Life Coaches and Psychotherapists:

RequirementsLife CoachesPsychotherapists
EducationNone. Any person can call themselves a life coach. Self elected training may be very brief, even a few hours. Certificates may be earned in days and advanced training is offered over the course of months.Typically at least six years combined of university and graduate school are required. Graduate school is typically resultant in either a masters degree or a doctorate. Additionally, most of these degrees require internships and supervision/practicum to gain practical field experience.
LicensureNone.
Coaching programs do not require advanced degrees or licenses.		Yes.
After earning a masters degree or doctorate, as well as the required number of supervision or practicum hours (usually takes approximately 2 years), a person is eligible to sit for a licensing exam. The exam type depends on the type of graduate degree achieved.
Ethics/ HIPPAA/RegulationsThere is not a code of ethics for all life coaches. If a coach elects to be a member of the International Coach Federation, they commit to abiding by its code of ethics.Yes. All licensed social workers, psychologists, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists must abide by the code of ethics for their profession.
There are regulations in place for psychotherapists. Many of these are governed state by state and require licensed mental health professionals to take approved CEU’s, Continuing Education Units, in order to maintain their licensure.
Many licensed psychotherapists are also required to abide by HIPPAA standards of privacy, especially if they participate with insurance plans.

The education about psychological and neuropsychological as well as a certain amount of psychiatric knowledge can be essential in helping a client progress.  I cannot imagine, for example, how I would work with a client dealing with real and serious anxiety issues without the extensive training and education I have had. The treatment is not such that intuition and good intentions alone can make a difference. With great respect for life coaches who do great work helping people with goals, organization and the like, I am a firm believer in the value of licensure and training for psychological work.