Introducing Therapy Lab Kids: Interview with Rachael Mathiak, LCSW

THE PERSON

What are your pronouns?

She/Her/Hers

Outside of your work as a therapist, what are your interests?

I love to travel and experience new places and cultures. It's a personal goal to visit a new place I’ve never been each year, and I had an undefeated streak from 2009 until 2019. I'm looking forward to picking that goal up again as soon as things settle with the pandemic. I really enjoy live music, and I’ve been meaning to get into photography…

How do you take care of yourself?

Yoga is my favorite way to take care of myself. It helps my mind, body, and spirit feel more centered, which brings me clarity. Spending time connecting with my spouse, my daughter, my friends, and our family dog is very important to me as well. I also enjoy reading books and watching TV series. Spending time outside, especially by water, is one of my favorite things.

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THE WORK

What inspired you to work with children, adolescents, and families within the mental health space?

It’s funny how life leads you to what your calling is. After I completed my undergrad I said I would never want to work with teens and families, well, you know what they say about saying “never”—my first job as a social worker was at a runaway youth shelter. It helped me realize how meaningful it is to help teens and families access the resources (both their own internal resources and the external community resources) and skills they need to thrive in their lives. Over the years I’ve worked with adult populations, and I found myself missing the work I did with teens and families every time. I am most passionate about working with teens and families. It’s my heart's calling. I truly enjoy and feel honored to get to meet families along their journey and hear their stories. It's a gift to be a blip in a chapter on their way to mental wellness and living a meaningful life.

Why is Telehealth effective for kids?

The pandemic has very few silver linings to it; however, I think one major one is highlighting how effective therapy can be via video platforms. For years, child psychiatrists have relied on Telehealth to make mental health treatment more accessible due to the national shortage of child psychiatrists. Unfortunately, in many areas across the country, we have long waits for child/family therapists too. Telehealth opens the doors for people to bypass a waitlist and get support from a therapist more immediately. The quicker we are able to intervene the better with heading towards mental wellness. Sadly, our youth are one of the highest risk groups for suicide rates and the antidote is treating symptoms early on before things become dire. I think Telehealth is opening the door for quicker access to care for our youth—and as the adage goes—our youth are our future—it’s so important for us to take care of them!

What is the benefit of Therapy Lab Kids vs. traditional therapy?

I am so truly excited and grateful to be joining TL kids because of their unique and progressive approach to therapy. TL Kids offers tailored treatment based on common themes we see children, teens, and families facing—in a way that can still be individualized, while remaining informed by the science. We launched this virtual program to make therapy more accessible and flexible for people, while keeping a family-focused approach. Families have busy schedules, so we’re providing a targeted approach to therapy with your family’s goals, timeline, and budget in mind.

When is it more appropriate to work on parenting skills vs. individual therapy with a child or teenager?

I will start by saying it’s situational—every individual teen/family circumstance is unique to their own and treatment should be tailored based on that. In general, most families benefit from a combination of both—some individual work with the child/teen, some family sessions, and some parent only sessions. Whenever you have a group of people living under a shared roof, they impact each other. If we can get to the heart of those patterns, everyone usually has room to grow and improve how they are relating to one another.

How do you determine if a child or adolescent is a good fit for TL Kids?

Anyone is welcome to call for a brief phone consultation! We are wanting to target families who are in the early stages of seeing concerns or changes in their youth. Our goal is to provide tools before challenges become more severe and difficult to treat. We have put together four therapy plans that address common issues children, teens, and families face. Again, the plans are individualized to each family’s unique needs, and our therapists will help sort out the best path to reach your goals during the initial intro session.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

What are you most passionate about within the mental health landscape?

I definitely am passionate about improving access to care for youth and their families. Science indicates the earlier we are able to treat mental health related concerns, the less likely it is to become a lifelong struggle for someone. Unfortunately, I think the structure of our healthcare system creates barriers for people to get the care they need, and I love how innovative today’s mental health professionals (ahem ahem TLK) are at finding a way around those barriers. I also very much value mental health professionals getting up-to-date training on therapeutic methods to provide best practice to people. That's what every person deserves—the best of care and easy access to it.

What do you wish more people knew about therapy?

Therapy can be eye opening and an agent for personal growth if you’re able to find a therapist that is a good fit for you. I have friends and former clients who have stuck with a therapist that didn’t feel like a good fit but didn’t know they had the right to speak up. If it isn’t working for you, you won’t offend your therapist! Please speak up and have an honest dialogue with them. Most of us therapists want therapy to feel valuable and worth your time. If you’re feeling stuck with your therapist after the first couple of sessions, try to talk to them about what isn’t going well, and see if you’re able to problem solve together. If that method doesn’t work, they will be able to better match you with a colleague or someone they know in the community.

How do you see mental health care changing over the next 5-10 years?

Welcome to the digital age—it’s already becoming more virtual! Technology is advancing so many industries and I believe mental health care is one of them. I HOPE mental health care has a system shift to focus more on prevention efforts, and the continued work of de-stigmatizing mental health care. We all benefit from mental health/wellness, it’s part of our collective well-being/shared experience.

Interested in booking a session with Rachael? Schedule a consultation with a Care Coordinator to get started.