Psycho-education

Psycho-education involves orienting youth and their parents to the treatment process. This includes providing information about the child’s presenting problem and discussing what to expect from the treatment approach (Friedberg & Gorman, 2007). Introducing families to the therapy process is particularly important with migrant and refugee youth, whose families may not be familiar with psychotherapy. Explaining what to expect, addressing misconceptions, and providing information about the young client’s symptoms facilitates motivation and investment in treatment (Friedberg et al., 2009). Skillful psycho-education contributes to engagement in treatment. For example, using culturally and individually relevant metaphors to explain treatment fosters understanding and builds the therapeutic relationship. Culturally relevant analogies can also be used in describing the structure of cognitive-behavioral treatment. With youth, it is particularly important that clinicians are creative in the implementation of psycho-education. For example, multimedia including picture books, movies, songs, pamphlets, websites, and TV shows can be employed to communicate critical information (Friedberg, & Brelsford, 2011).

Practitioners should strive to provide information in a variety of different mediums to facilitate understanding and meet the needs of each family. For example, parents can be given printed material from websites and clinicians can read a picture book with young children (eg Children’s guides to overcoming anxiety). Psycho-educational material should be presented in the preferred language of parent and child (see section on Resources for Consumers).