Given the challenges of raising a healthy, resilient child in today’s society, many parents turn to professionals to help guide their families into sound decisions and habits. Parents regularly seek advice and instruction from coaches, tutors, teachers and psychologists depending on the concerns at hand. Counseling services have typically been restricted to a clinical setting or counseling office and often resulted in long wait times or restricted visits due to insurance. Today, more parents are turning to the internet for a rapidly growing resource: family counseling online. Some professionals use the internet (i.e., via Skype or similar web resource) to allow the family and professional to view each other in front of the computer. Because this requires a web camera and computer, not all families choose this option. Many families choose the option of receiving counseling via the telephone. While this does not allow the therapist to see nuances within nonverbal communication, studies also show that individuals that participate in this media form tend to be more forth coming in their concerns and enjoy the anonymity the phone provides. In this arena, the most effective and positive changes result when the professional (usually a psychologist or counselor) works with the parents directly to address the issues at hand. Recent research supports the efficacy of phone based therapy due to the convenience and low attrition with the counseling process.  

 

Many parents referring questions and concerns center on one child’s behavior. Their child may be aggressive, immature, temperamental, unpredictable, explosive, or any range of adjectives that a parent may use to describe their child’s behaviors. The referral may also have been prompted from the school’s concerns; or behaviors become evident when comparing them to same aged peers. 

 

Provided there isn’t a physiological condition that precedes the behavior, online counseling works with the goal of helping the parent to better understand contributing factors to the child’s behavior while increasing the child’s independence. Therapists help guide parents in how specifically to teach their child skills that empower them to make more appropriate choices. Ongoing counseling is particularly helpful when addressing specific strategies as well as family paradigms. It is important that professionals work cohesively with parents in order to blend the behavior training with the individual differences of each child.  

 

Progress is often contingent on the parent(s) becoming keen observers of behaviors within themselves and their children. It is sometimes difficult for parents to be truly objective in this measure – but this also holds true in a traditional clinical setting. Success of interventions is highly contingent on parenting attitudes, beliefs, skill sets, and investment in any particular strategy. It may seem that focusing on the child and what the child can do (or not do) would be the obvious route to effective behavior change. However, a trained psychologist or counselor can help teach parents where the power truly lays – their reactions to the behavior. While consistency is crucial for any effective or lasting change, the ability to break down and analyze the behavior patterns is most effective with the objective eye of a trained professional.