Let me start with a story that’s very personal to me. My husband and I fostered 3 children (siblings) in 2018 and we adopted them in 2020. At first, we were only aware of 2 brothers needing a home. We picked them up, took them home, and SURPRISE! They had a 5 day old baby sister in the hospital! Were we prepared for a baby? NOT AT ALL. Still, I called the case worker and we took her in anyway. Most people have 9 months to prepare for a baby. WE HAD 3 HOURS. Here’s the first picture of her from the hospital.
We were overwhelmed with adoration! At the same time, we were so overwhelmed with STRESS. Not only were we dealing with an underweight, medically fragile baby, we were also dealing with some really troubled little boys. We could tell right away that they had suffered through abuse and neglect. There were very concerning behaviors that materialized as the days and weeks went on. Especially with our 4 year old. He had so much rage and sadness in him. He would punch other kids in the face and give them bloody noses and black eyes. He would scream and throw huge tantrums over the smallest of things. He would throw things around and put holes in the walls. There were even a few times where I had to grab the baby and escape into the bathroom until he calmed down. Then on the other hand he was so broken and depressed. He emitted a sadness deeper than any 4 year old should have to bear.
I immediately started the process of getting him into therapy. The therapy agency placed him into Talk Therapy as they did not have any other types of therapy available at the time. Meanwhile I was frantically searching the web, looking for anything and everything to help this little boy through his trauma. I’ve tried so so so many ways to help him. I was failing him. Even though it was the most stressed I’ve ever been, even though there were so many times that I wanted to pull my hair out and just give up and cry, I knew that the one suffering the most was him. He was the one dealing with all of these big emotions that he couldn’t understand or control.
“He was in the wrong type of therapy for SEVEN MONTHS.
This is way too long!”
We didn’t have much luck with his therapy. Months went by and there were no changes. After one particularly bad night, the person coming out (I don’t think he was an actual licensed therapist) told me that I needed to call out of work the next day and call the case worker to put him back into the system.
I refused.
Nobody has put this child first. I decided right then and there that I would. I would not give up. I would love him with a fierceness he’s never seen before.
I dove into research and ON MY OWN I found out the type of therapy he needed. (Play therapy and occupational therapy) I was then able to advocate for him and find the right professionals to meet his needs. After some time in quality therapy along with lots of love and stability at home, he is a COMPLETELY different little boy. He does not hit, he does not throw things, and his emotions are actually stable!
He was in the wrong type of therapy for SEVEN MONTHS. This is way too long! We foster parents are not professionals. We do not know how to determine which therapy is best for these kiddos. Especially when there are over a dozen types to choose from! If we only knew which one was best we could advocate for them!
Which finally brings me to the reason I created my company “Let’s Think Happy LLC”. I knew there had to be others out there that were struggling with the same problem. I knew there had to be a better, faster way for not only children to get into the right type(s) of therapy, but adults too! It was so obvious to me that this was a hole in our society, that therapy agencies will place you or your child into whichever type of therapy they have available at the time as opposed to which type of therapy will actually benefit you so that they do not lose your business. An idea formed in my head and I jumped on it. I hired a licensed counselor who was just as passionate as I was to build a questionnaire. By simply filling out this questionnaire you will get immediate professional results showing which therapy is best for yourself or a child. Once you know which type of therapy is best, you can finally advocate for yourself!
So don’t wait any longer, take the first step toward a happier mindset and fill out our personalized questionnaire! It will point you in the right direction and give you a huge head start to finding the right professional to meet your needs. Life is too short not to be happy, so let’s think happy!
