Episode 147

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Published on:

1st May 2026

How to Find a Therapist for Your Anxious Child (and Why It’s So Hard)

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

Mentioned in this episode:

Tell Me It Will Be OK: The Practice

🌟 READY TO FIND YOUR ROOM TO BREATHE? Tell Me It Will Be OK: The Practice is a weekly, 30-minute audio-guided journaling sanctuary designed to help you connect with your own inner wisdom, calm, and connection.ry a free 30-minute sample session today and lock in your spot on our priority waitlist for the July 8th launch. Get your free sample session at OpenBookParenting.com!

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About the Podcast

TELL ME IT WILL BE OK
a parenting podcast with Dawn Friedman MSEd
Tell Me It Will Be OK is the conversation for parents of anxious kids who have read all the books, listened to all the experts, and still feel like something is missing.

Host Dawn Friedman, MSEd, has spent over thirty years in the trenches with families as an educator, family case manager, and clinical counselor. She knows that in a world of climate crisis, political upheaval, and digital noise, there is no such thing as a "quick-fix" script or a one-size-fits-all solution. Parenting bright, sensitive, and anxious children requires more than just a new technique—it requires a paradigm shift.

Each week, Dawn moves beyond the "how-to" to dig into the "why" and the "what now?" through:
--Deep-Dive Interviews: Conversations with researchers, activists, authors, and practitioners who look at the big picture of raising children today.

--Practical Wisdom: Evidence-based clinical insights (including SPACE and infant-toddler mental health) applied to the messy reality of daily life.

--The "No-Need-To-Be-Perfect" Philosophy: Shifting away from anxious perfectionism and toward the inner wisdom that helps us connect with our kids when things are hard.

To learn more about Dawn and the work that she does, you can check out her site, Open Book Parenting.

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Dawn Friedman