Dawn Friedman introduces the Tell Me It Will Be Okay podcast and, for Mental Health Awareness Month and Child Mental Health Awareness Week (beginning May 3), announces that each Friday in May will feature another parenting-focused podcast’s favorite episode. She then explains why finding therapy for kids and teens is difficult, including provider shortages and insurance complications, and shares why she doesn’t take insurance: extensive paperwork, payment and coverage errors, limits on session length, insurer control over notes, and insurers dictating care. She discusses sliding scale realities, concerns about large venture-funded services and clinician turnover, and why a therapist doesn’t need to be a parent but should have child experience, consultation support, and training in child anxiety (including awareness of SPACE and parent involvement). She recommends ways to find referrals, highlights diagnosis/treatment plan considerations, and explains custody-related legal limits and why child therapists can’t weigh in on custody.

00:00 Podcast Welcome and May Series

00:56 Why Finding a Therapist Is Hard

01:15 Private Practice Background

02:09 Why Therapists Skip Insurance

06:35 Sliding Scale and Low Cost Options

07:54 Concerns About Big Therapy Platforms

09:56 Should Your Therapist Be a Parent

11:50 Kid Experience and Supervision Matters

16:02 Child Anxiety Training and Parent Role

17:51 School Based Therapy and Diagnoses

19:21 Treatment Plans and Long Term Fit

22:29 How to Find and Vet Therapists

27:21 Rapport and Why Child Therapy Is Tough

29:03 Custody Battles and Legal Limits

32:17 SPACE Directory and Wrap Up

You can find a SPACE trained provider by going here:

https://www.spacetreatment.net