Dr. Supernanny: Calming the Chaos

By: Jennifer Bailey, PsyD

Have you ever wished that Supernanny could come to visit your home and assist your family? In today’s chaotic and media driven world it can be very difficult to establish and maintain a calm and peaceful home environment. Many parents feel that there is just not enough time in the day between work, school, extracurricular activities, homework, errands, daily chores and household activities. I have repeatedly heard that mornings are a nightmare, homework does not get completed and the adults in the home feel like they are constantly “walking on eggshells.” They say that they have tried everything and nothing works. That is when it is important to consider in-home therapy, especially if traditional office based sessions have not been successful.

In-home therapy is designed to address immediate problems that are occurring in the home environment. It is a solution-based, problem-solving approach that includes the whole family. During these sessions, behavioral, family systems and cognitive behavioral therapy strategies are utilized. This integrated approach allows for the therapist to target symptoms, patterns and behaviors as opposed to using a “cookie cutter“ model that may not address all of the issues.

Many times this short term type of intervention has been extremely useful in households who are considering a more restrictive, out of home, placement for their child. Similarly, if a child has been hospitalized or placed in a wilderness or residential treatment facility, these sessions are extremely useful in helping the family maintain the gains that have been made while their child was away in a placement program. However, in-home therapy sessions are also very useful in less severe situations. Often the time can be used to create and maintain more structure for the family, reduce screen time, increase compliance, promote responsibility for your child and establish consistent expectations and consequences. Therefore, if you are feeling like things have become out-of-control and traditional therapy is not working, this can be a very successful solution. If you already have a therapist, it will be important for all of the professionals on your team to collaborate. This communication helps to promote consistency and ensure that the gains that are made will not be lost. Once progress has been established through the in-home sessions, families can continue treatment with traditional office appointments.

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Dr. Jennifer Bailey provides:
Individual Therapy
Family Therapy
In-home therapy sessions
Sessions with student in the educational environment
Parent coaching
You can reach Dr. Bailey at (770) 685-6412