Kaiser Therapists for Teens
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Kaiser Therapists for Teens
July 2012
I'm looking for a therapist in Oakland Kaiser for my 13 year old son who is shy
and sensitive, has anxiety issues, depression, executive dysfunction. We are
new to Kaiser. anon
I love the advantages of being a Kaiser member and would be one again in a
heartbeat if my current employer offered it. But Kaiser is not the place for
what you probably think of as therapy. It's just not what they do. It's a
short-term, behavior oriented approach. If you think your son would benefit
from that approach, then there are lots of good clinicians who work with
adolescents, and several kinds of groups for teens. Ironically, if your teen
is
in short-term therapy and gets worse, requiring hospitalization, as mine did,
the intensive outpatient follow up program is excellent and not time-limited.
Also completely free, not even a copay for more therapy. Go figure. I have
only good opinions of the practitioners who work with adolescents, with one
only
exception. It's not their staff, it's Kaiser's lack of commitment to real
emotional/psychological therapy. Maybe, given the indeterminate length of
traditional therapy, it would be impossible to control costs under Kaiser's
structure. Good
luck.
Dec 2009
Hello,
Can anyone recommend a Kaiser therapist to work with a teenage girl
(on issues of self esteem, friendships, family, ''stressors'', etc.) -
preferably Kaiser Oakland, but also possibly Kaiser Richmond? Has
your teen benefitted from seeing someone at Kaiser that you would
recommend? Thanks for any input
Seeking Kaiser therapist for teen
Both my teen son and teen daughter saw Maxine Turret at Kaiser
Oakland. (I am sorry, but I do not think I have her name spelled
correctly.) Because my son had liked her, my daughter went to see her
at a later time and also felt it was a good match. She is not a
psychologist, but an MSW in the child and family psychiatry
department. My husband and I also met with her and found her helpful.
Before any of us saw her though, my husband and I had to attend an
orientation/workshop given by the department. I don't know if this is
still part of the process.
Kaiser member
Dec 2005
Re: Hostile 17-y-o refuses therapy - help for parents?
My husband and I, and eventually our daughter, went through
therapy at Kaiser Oakland and I truly don't know how we
would have gotten through otherwise. They were an
incredible support and went out of the way to support us in
every way.
... Kaiser has a teen
group that meets, maybe he would find that more acceptable?
We don't have exactly the same issues with our 15-year-old
as you do, but we definitely have been dealing with
parenting issues like teen hostility, reasonable
boundaries, appropriate behavior, bad teen judgment, and
protecting/nurturing a younger sibling. All I can say is,
we've seen Larry Liebman at Kaiser Oakland over the past
year, and we'd recommend him as a family therapist in
general. I value his perception and his willingness to be
in touch by phone as well as in person. We've been able to
work on and move on various issues partly because of his
ability to re-frame how we look at them and each other,
which was helpful for us when we were stuck. His style is
very open and chatty, which works for us.
When we had an 8-year-old frightening us with suicide
threats, we saw Kate Mountain at Kaiser -- she is more low
key, more of a traditional listening therapist. We liked
her as well, and got what we needed out of our sessions,
but she was out on maternity leave when we wanted to come
back with a teen. I believe she's back now.
my very best wishes to you in finding someone to help
you. I don't have any specific advice for you, but wanted
to let you know that I know of many people, including
myself, who have had very positive experiences with Kaiser
Oakland and Richmond mental health clinicians with regard
to parent/child/adolescent issues. they have some really
excellent clinicians, and should be at least a good first
step for you.
anonymous
We were having some problems with our teenager daughter a year and a half ago when she was on 7th grade & went to Kaiser to meet w/ a therapist. Our daughter starting meeting w/ her own therapist 2 times per month, and going to a teen group once a week. We ended up going in to an 8 week group class @ Kaiser Richmond, that they hold for parents of strong willed adolescents. In the first week of this class, we learned some valuable tools for setting boundaries & consequences for our daughter that we all discussed in detail. We set up a contract between ourselves and our daughter that went over as many possible issues as we could come up with and decided ahead of time what the consequences would be for each item. We also discussed rewards & privileges for good behavior.
The main premise of the consequences in this program is what they call a T.E.A.S.P.O.T. (which stands for: Take Everything Away for a Short Period Of Time). So instead of being on phone restriction, or having to go to bed early, we would take EVERYTHING away for a 1/2 hour, or an hour, or a day or two days for something extreme. She put this to the test the first weekend after we went to the class, (ran away from her friends house when she was having a sleep over!!). We put her on a TEASPOT for 2 days, and the impact of those two days doing NOTHING (we took almost everything out of her room) had more impact then having the phone taken away for a whole month, or being on house restriction for 2 weeks had done in the past.
I highly recommend this class. There were quite a few parents who were having extreme issues w/ their kids, and being able to share w/ others and get feedback from other parents gave us a lot of support & perspective on what we were going through. Once you determine the things that your kids are attached to, CD players, TV's, cell phones, going out etc... and take it all away, they really do start to get it... If you live in my house, these are the rules and these are the consequences. Takes a lot of the drama away when you have it all written down and talked about in advance.
The material they presented in the class and the teacher were all very helpful. We are still using the TEASPOT when we need to, but don't have to hardly ever these days. Our daughter is now in 9th grade and is doing great. She still has a smart mouth, and pushes the limits on some stuff, but so far this year, things have been going really great.
Best of luck to you & your family!!!
Gina
Re: Therapist for LD Teen (April 2002)
Within the Kaiser system, I just received a recommendation from another mom,
whose 16 year old daughter is working with this therapist with positive
results. Her name is Alicia Barrett-Singer, and she's located in the
Pediatrics Department in the Mosswood Building at Kaiser Oakland. Please
look
at the Kaiser directory for the phone number.
About 15 years ago, Kaiser had a pilot program in Lafyette that was only
for teens. It was run by a psychiatrist. There were group sessions as
well as individual sessions. The young person I knew who was in therapy
was in the program for about 6 months, did get some medication and emerged
fine.
FR,
Berkeley High School
Re: African American therapist for teen
Dear Mom with Clashing Son and Husband: If you have a membership with Kaiser
Permanente which includes mental health benefits, I highly recommend their
family psychiatry department over in the Mosswood building at the Oakland
facility. They have two outstanding Black male professionals on staff (and
perhaps others whom I am not personally familiar with). Dr. Whitmore and Dr.
Simmons counsel both adults and children in individual sessions and in groups
organized for early/pre-teen children. You will need to inquire as to
whether your situation meets their criteria for obtaining services and of
course, they are probably already very busy. But for serious family problems
affecting our children, Kaiser members should be aware that affordable help
can be obtained. Good luck.
Nicolie
(See also: Roscoe Simmons recommendations.)
Can anyone recommend a Oakland Kaiser therapist to work with family and school
issues for a 14 year old boy?
Mario Raya is wonderful. Very in-sync with the kids and good at drawing
them out.
Rosco Simmons at Kaiser, Oakland is excellent.
I work with troubled teens at Alta Bates (inpatient & day treatment) and had
several clients that were Kaiser patients. Karen Orsolac was the therapist
that I usually coordinated with. She used to run the Teen Clinic at Kaiser
Oakland & I think still does. She is very good with both teens & parents. She
has very direct style of communication that seems to get to the core issues
quickly. Cyclechik1
One of the other therapists in my building used to be a Kaiser Oakland therapist, so I asked
him. He suggested Dr. Roscoe Simmons and Dr. Gerald Whitmore of the child and
adolescent unit. The number to call for appointments is 596-2737. Good luck.
Vicki
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