January 28, 2021

To College or Not to College?

About The Episode

How do you even start the college conversation without your child shutting down or storming off? In today’s episode, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Katie Reeves, shares communication strategies for launching meaningful discussions with your teens about college, COVID, mental health, and more.

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Guest Info

Katherine Reeves, PMHNP-BC

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at CHC

Katie is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (NP) who works with children, adolescents and their parents to treat psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression, trauma related disorders, ADHD and behavioral disorders.

Katie is an expert in working with suicidal and self-harming adolescents and has experience working in outpatient, in-patient, community outreach, and residential treatment settings as well as working in marginally housed and LGBTQ+ communities. She provides primary psychiatric care to children and teens including medication management, individual and group therapy.

Katie is a Bay Area native. She grew up in Palo Alto, went to Gunn High School, and now lives in San Francisco.

Show Notes

College is a big decision, especially for those with mental health challenges and even more so during a pandemic. Thankfully, our guest on today’s podcast is an expert at getting adolescents to open up, let their guards down and feel heard. Hear from Katie Reeves, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at CHC, about strategies to foster healthy conversations on even the toughest topics. Katie talks about the importance of setting goals, asking questions, validating teens’ feelings and putting ourselves in their shoes. Still at an impasse? Try her two-step process. And remember: it’s OK to tell our kids that we don’t have all the answers, that we’re nervous about the conversation, or frustrated that we don’t know how to help. It’s the perfect opportunity for parents to show our kids how human we are.

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