Mastering Screen Fatigue Plus Online Therapy with Senior Therapist Molly Shaffer, LPC
Online therapy is a flexible way to work with expert anxiety therapists in St. Louis, stay consistent with your therapy meetings, and also build the skills that you need within your own home environment.
Our team of St. Louis counselors and St. Louis therapists at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis do both in person and online therapy Missouri-wide, meaning the kids, teens, and families we love to work with can see us in person or from their home, school, campus, or even get parent coaching during your lunch break right from your office.
Image Credit: Unsplash bruce mars @brucemars
Because we offer online therapy, we know that screen fatigue can be a real problem - and we don’t want to contribute to that problem.
Our St. Louis therapists are trained in helping your kid or teen explore and manage screen fatigue.
Today we are sharing insights from Compassionate Counseling St. Louis Senior Therapist Molly Shaffer, MA, LPC on how she helps her clients stay engaged and keep screen fatigue at bay.
Molly Shaffer, MA, LPC
Molly Shaffer, MA, LPC
Child & Teen Therapist, Trauma Specialist and Parent Coach
I think it helps to keep the session very structured, especially for young children, to help them stay focused. To help set up structure for clients, I will typically follow a set pattern in my online therapy sessions.
First, we start with a movement activity and then move to a discussion of our week and the ORS check-in (which is a part of our Feedback Informed Treatment model at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis).
Then we work on psychoeducation and often I utilize a video or book to continue to teach the topic we are focusing on so we can learn new skills to help with the goals for each client. And, of course, then we practice the skill we have learned! Our movement activities, skill practice and art activities help reduce the time that is spent staring at the screen which helps to keep the screen engagement more interactive and less monotonous.
I like to finish each session with a preferred task that my client chooses based on options that I present to them. Allowing them to choose their preferred task also helps to keep their engagement up when they are given some control over what is happening.
Parents Need Help Too!
Online therapy isn’t just for kids. We offer parent support, too. Compassionate Counseling St. Louis offers Therapeutic Parent Coaching to help you support your child as they learn to manage their big emotions.
Many of the activities we do during virtual or online therapy are also the same kinds of activities we do with In Person Counseling in St. Louis, Missouri!
Sometimes a slight tweak is required, but we can do the same type of CBT, art therapy, or play therapy just within the framework of meeting online. Activities like…
UNO Therapy Tools: UNO is a go to card game in our therapy offices. It’s not only a fun game, it allows anxious and angry kids to practice turns, good sportsmanship, frustration tolerance, and patience.
Body Clues Art Activity for Anxious, Angry Kids: We all benefit from learning more about how we feel in our body. The best way to do this activity is to simultaneously do it with your child, so that you normalize the feelings, and you have an opportunity to explore how feelings are individualized.
Help Anxious Kids with These 6 Awesome, Effective Books: These are all books I purchased in March of 2020, when our office needed to close and move to fully virtual session due to the coronavirus, and fears about keeping everyone safe from COVID - so, rest assured these books are tried and tested in the virtual space, and easy to use a jumping off point for conversations about anxiety management for kids.
Paper Boats Guided Meditation for Teens With Anxiety: Guided meditations are so easy and great to do during online therapy! This meditation helps you “let go” of thoughts without fighting them, building the skill of cognitive defusion. Defusion is all about noticing thoughts as they come up—without judging them or letting them take over. When you picture your thoughts floating away on a paper boat, you’re practicing this powerful ACT skill to detach and refocus, which can bring a sense of calm and clarity.
Interested in online therapy Missouri wide with our team of expert anxiety therapists?
Whether you are looking for counseling for your pre-schooler who is having a hard time with transitions, your teenager struggling with anxiety, your college student experiencing perfectionism or yourself to help you parent the way that you want to, Compassionate Counseling St. Louis has a place for you.
You can schedule a free phone consultation to find out more about Compassionate Counseling St. Louis and get you or your child scheduled right away! You can get scheduled with any of our Compassionate Counseling St. Louis therapists through our intake coordinator right here.
Curious to learn more about anxiety and anxiety-driven anger? Googling around for “Online Therapy Missouri” or “child anxiety therapist near me”? Reach out to us at hello@compassionatecounselingstl.com. As child anxiety experts, we love working with kids, teens, college students and parents to help manage their anxiety, stress, and anger. Compassionate Counseling St. Louis is located in Clayton, MO and works with families by offering both in-person counseling and online therapy throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Ladue, University City, Town and Country, Webster Groves, Creve Couer, Kirkwood, Richmond Heights, and Brentwood. We also provide online therapy Missouri -wide to teens and college students. You can set up your first free consult on this website, on our consultation page.