Parenting children with mental health challenges A guide to life with emotionally complex kids

Deborah Vlock

Book - 2018

Drawing on her own experiences and those of other parents, plus tips from mental health professionals, Vlock suggests ways of parenting smarter, partnering better, and living more fully and less fearfully in the shadow of childhood psychiatric illness. Offers overwhelmed readers guidance, solidarity, and hope.

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Subjects
Published
Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield [2018]
Language
English
Main Author
Deborah Vlock (author)
Physical Description
xx, 177 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781538105245
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • 1. How Do You Know Your Child Has a Mental Health Disorder?
  • 2. At Home with Mental Illness / Mental Illness at Home
  • 3. When You Must Get Out and About
  • 4. When School Makes Your Kid Sick(er)
  • 5. Maintaining Your Healthy Relationships, Ditching the Toxic Ones
  • 6. The Key to Better Access and Care May Be at the Tip of Your Tongue
  • Afterword
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • About the Author
Review by Booklist Review

Readers who feel overwhelmed by the numerous and ever-present challenges of parenting a child with mental health issues will find opportunities to feel connected, supported, and hopeful in this book. Vlock has been living with these challenges since her four-year-old started talking about suicide. Her willingness to share her experience along with the stories of other parents, input from psychiatric experts, and open mic time with children who live with a range of mental health struggles will help others navigate life at home and in public. Parenting Children with Mental Health Challenges is a good supplement to the many diagnosis-specific titles by medical and psychiatric specialists. Vlock includes resources to help connect parents with groups, maintain their own mental health, and keep their own healthy relationships throughout the struggle and stigma they may be feeling. If the real life sections are too heavy, readers can focus on the lists of books, online resources, crisis hotline numbers, and suggested ways to be a good advocate and consumer.--Joyce McIntosh Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Vlock brings her personal experience as the mother of two children with mental health challenges to a realistic, empathetic guide targeted at ensuring her parenting peers "don't try taking this trip solo" and "feel stronger and better," rather than isolated and overwhelmed. She presents her material in multiple formats suited to different circumstances, including bulleted action lists, factual info boxes, resource guides, q&as with experts on specific topics, and personal narratives from herself and others, creating a "read what you need" volume that can come off the shelf in moments both of introspection and of crisis. Vlock avoids jumping into clinical and diagnostic material; she uses her family's stories for illustrative purposes rather than full-blown memoir and recounts distressing case studies compassionately but without sensationalism. Chapters about daily management of behavior and emotions at home, school, and out in public are spot-on, and Vlock's advice on working with educators and clinicians is practical. Her advice feels both relatable and reliable, coming from personal experience-her own as well as that of other parents-and from mental health professionals. Parents in the same boat as she will find this a valuable addition to their self-care toolbox. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved