Therapy Complete

Allie had her last session of Play Therapy two weeks ago. She has been doing so much better with her anxiety, that her counselor and I both thought she would be okay without any more sessions. She did have one night where she started to get out of control (that hasn't happened in months), but once she decided she was ready to listen to me, it wasn't hard to get her calmed down again. 

A couple of things we'll need to remember: she isn't supposed to watch anything scary (movies, the news, etc), as those tend to lead her imagination on a dangerous path (her panic attack she had was after watching a movie with a panther in it); she also isn't supposed to look at magazines designed for women. She has shown that she takes everything in, without knowing how to process things, and nothing good can come of her looking at those magazines. 

Also, we have to reinforce the fact that she isn't "cured." I know that, obviously, having dealt with my own anxiety in the past. You're never cured, you just understand how to manage and deal with it better. Allie sometimes hides that fact that something scares her, probably because she thinks she shouldn't be scared anymore, because she is finished with therapy. But we have let her know that it's OKAY and NORMAL to be scared. Now she just knows better how she's going to handle it. 

For her last session, she got to go get ice cream, and she picked this tub of mint chocolate chip. She wanted to eat it all herself, but that's a lot of ice cream. And she's a sweet girl, so she shared some with her siblings (and gave the rest to Damon when he offered her a dollar).

She is in the play room there, where she loved spending time. Play therapy is fascinating to me. I would love to learn more about it and actually watch it in action. It blows my mind that children can deal with difficult issues (far more serious than Allie's) and heal through play. Fascinating!

Here she is with her counselor, Kate. We are very grateful for her expertise and love in guiding Allie through these rough months. And I'll keep her number close in case we need it again...