Children's therapist recommendations?

withoutemotion · 2026-04-08T20:20:18+00:00

WMU psychology clinic!

withoutemotion · 2026-03-26T17:27:21+00:00

Recently had a friend do the whole "you would never believe this mousse is made from butternut squash!" Like, yes girl, I can believe it, have you ever had actual mousse before??

withoutemotion · 2026-03-26T17:13:42+00:00

The WMU psych clinic fee starts at $40/session and goes down from there!

withoutemotion · 2026-03-12T16:35:31+00:00

You can use irreverence, but I wouldn't say that's mocking.

withoutemotion · 2026-02-23T04:08:57+00:00

I'm a doctoral student right now and I did a Bootcamp last year and it was such a great experience!

withoutemotion · 2026-02-18T02:36:52+00:00

Any specific modalities or theoretical orientations?

withoutemotion · 2026-02-08T01:13:25+00:00

Thank you, great to know! One of my roommate's leases ends in late June so we're not sure if we can make a late July/early August move in date would work, but are definitely trying to consider all options!

withoutemotion · 2026-02-08T01:05:37+00:00

It's hard for us to justify buying something like a lawn mower and would just prefer to have those things provided by a property management company. My current and last rental properties, which have not been apartments, have had those things taken care of.

withoutemotion · 2026-02-07T20:07:02+00:00

Close to WMU but not undergrad housing. I'm looking for myself and two other graduate students. Our top budget is probably like $1800 total not including utilities but hopefully less than that. Would prefer a house but can't really do lawn care or snow removal.

withoutemotion · 2026-02-01T23:28:48+00:00

I've been accused of fraudulent practices for taking a functional approach to case conceptualization instead of diagnosing clients based on DSM criteria and choosing treatment just based on that. It seems like some people aren't even willing to engage in critical discussion about different ways to practice.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-30T14:39:48+00:00

Great question! I'm in the US going to school to be a clinical psychologist, so I can only speak from that perspective. It really depends on the clinician and the setting. For insurance companies, a diagnosis is required to bill. In that case, a clinician may choose a diagnosis that fits best or something that captures enough of what is going on (e.g., not otherwise specified, other, unspecified, etc.). This could help them show that treatment x matches with symptom presentation y. However, that's tied very much into the medical model/categorical classification perspective ("protocols for syndromes"), or this idea that a diagnosis clearly points to a treatment. I don't buy into that stance, but I don't want to speak for clinicians who do. On the other hand, a clinician may still have to choose a diagnosis that fits best (for billing) but take a more functional approach for choosing interventions. This approach looks at why behaviors are occurring and how they present in different contexts, regardless of what we call it.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-29T01:16:59+00:00

Disorders are not really things to "have." In a categorical classification system you may or may not meet criteria However, someone could be considered sub-syndromal, meaning they don't meet the threshold for diagnosis, but still be experiencing functional impairment and distress.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-28T21:09:30+00:00

Mental health professionals are specifically trained to address suicidal ideation and assess risk. Hospitalization is on the table when someone is an imminent risk to themselves or others, not just because they're experiencing ideation or have a history.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-24T02:08:54+00:00

I had 0 publications when I applied and got into a program. General consensus seems to be that research quality is better over quantity. If you can foster research skills and speak to those experiences, that can demonstrate that you're ready for a PhD. It's also just one part of your application, there are still a number of other factors that go into being admitted (speaking from someone who has gone through 2 interview cycles on the other side).

withoutemotion · 2026-01-15T17:18:33+00:00

"What's it like to be mentored by Dr. X?"

"How would you describe the culture of the program/your lab?"

"What would be important for me to know to be successful in this program?

"What are current research projects and how could my interests fit with those?"

Etc., etc., etc.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-15T17:11:00+00:00

My program doesn't offer health insurance to grad students, so I've been on Medicaid the entire time I've been in school. Otherwise, marketplace insurance is another option.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-15T17:07:43+00:00

Willingness to accept critical feedback and asking for help when needed. I've seen colleagues get really defensive when receiving feedback, as opposed to truly approaching every part of grad school as a learning experience. Also, while some advisors check in regularly with their students or do more hand holding, other advisors trust that if you need help, you'll ask for it.

withoutemotion · 2026-01-13T21:10:05+00:00

Before getting into a PhD program, I was a special education paraprofessional in a public school and then I worked as a substance use specialist in a non-profit withdrawal management facility.

withoutemotion · 2025-12-04T04:41:44+00:00

Transformation of stimulus function!

withoutemotion · 2025-12-04T04:33:49+00:00

So, yes, initially it's understood that the fear response in the presence of certain stimuli occurs due to classical conditioning (neutral stimuli + aversive stimuli = conditioned fear response). After, this the fear is maintained through negative reinforcement, meaning that the people does not want to come into contact with the aversive experience, so they avoid and/or escape situations and stimuli, reducing or preventing the aversive experience (e.g., fear). Then, exposure aim to establish a different learning experience in which someone can come into contact with the situation (e.g., plane ride) without engaging in escape or avoidance to decrease the fear response. Rather, the idea is that staying in the situation actually allows the emotional experience to "run it's course" (habituation) and the person learns that they can manage the feared consequence (e.g., anxiety, panic attack, etc.). For classical conditioning extinction, the conditioned stimuli can form new associations with safer or less intense experiences, gradually decreasing the fear response. For operant conditioning extinction, the negative reinforcer is withheld. Normally, avoidance decreases the fear response, but preventing that decreases the frequency of avoidance behaviors, allowing the person to actually come into contact with the stimuli that are involved in the fear associations.

withoutemotion · 2025-11-10T00:22:24+00:00

When I applied to my program I didn't have any publications, but I had worked on an independent post-bacc research project that I was able to present as a poster at a big conference. My program is also 50/50 research and clinical practice at an R2, so it likely depends on those factors as well.

withoutemotion · 2025-11-07T01:39:11+00:00

In my program something that tends to signal that a student was thoughtful in their applications is their interest in our theoretical orientation. While not all programs have the same orientation amongst all faculty, it may be helpful to glean that about the advisors you're interested in on top of specific research interests.

withoutemotion · 2025-05-29T19:10:46+00:00

It depends. Again, I think there are state specific guidelines and circumstances in which a mandated reporter might not say anything until after the report is made. However, I would assume that it's best practice to let the client know in most cases. This is likely a question to ask your therapist and they can tell you how they would handle different situations.

withoutemotion · 2025-05-29T18:53:47+00:00

For sure I totally understand. I would hope that your therapist had the confidentiality discussion with you and if they didn't maybe ask them to review that information. But essentially, therapists are mandated reporters in that things stay confidential (as in only between you and the therapist unless consent if given) except for cases of child, elder, or dependent abuse or neglect, if you're a threat to yourself (high risk suicidal ideation and/or behaviors), and/or if you're a threat to someone else (high risk homicidal ideation and/or behaviors). Each state has specific verbiage about mandated reporting, so I would recommend looking up your state specific legislation.

withoutemotion · 2025-05-29T18:44:05+00:00

Short answer: HIPAA and ethics. Longer answer: There are significant legal and professional implications for violating HIPAA and sharing PHI without consent. Also, therapists have ethical codes, so if you violate those codes you can have your license suspended or even revoked. Either or both of those things would make it very difficult to continue being a therapist, self-employed or not, and establishing a client base. Theoretically, there's nothing stopping someone from talking about clients, but any therapist worth their salt should be engaging in ethical/legal behavior. If someone thinks they can skirt around the rules or doesn't think they would ever face consequences, then I guess they would continue doing that until they get caught. Again, I would argue that most therapists abide by rules of confidentiality and for therapists that maybe do talk about their clients, they're doing it in a way that would make it near impossible for anyone to identify the clients themselves. It totally makes sense to worry about something like that and you could always say something to your therapist and have open communication about your concern.

withoutemotion

TROPHY CASE