The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) television studios, UDCtv, provides the Washington, DC area with programming geared to foster health, political and environmental awareness. Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods hosts this UDCtv show entitled “A Healthy Mind” featuring guests from a myriad of professions lending information to promote healthy living and lifestyles. Entries entitled: “A Healthy Mind” share these interviews.
On January 5th, 2020, Dr. Karen Weise, was invited onto the show to discuss the nature and evaluation of childhood development. Dr. Karen Weise has dedicated 20+ years in psychology and psychoanalysis field. Dr. Weise specializes in helping individuals to work to remove challenges to achieving satisfaction in their lives. She focuses on tailoring her approach to each clients need and developing a collaborative therapy relationship, and provides clients with the tools they need to have consistent positive experiences in their lives. In 2009 she was featured in the Washingtonian magazine’s “Best Therapists.” Dr. Weise currently is a professor of Psychology at the George Washington University. Furthermore, Dr. Weise holds her own practice in Northwest DC where she treats children, adolescents, and young adults for assessment therapy.
. . . . .
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Hello, my name is Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods, adjunct professor of psychology at The George Washington University, and your host for this edition of A Healthy Mind. The purpose of this video series is to educate and inform the public about mental health, from public policy and environmental factors to the various disorders that affect healthy minds.”
“Childhood, for many, is a time of growth, exploration, and mastery of skills that foster the ability to become increasingly capable leading to independence. However, for some children, there are influences that create challenges where support is needed in order to assist the child in their physical and emotional development.”
“Joining me today, on this edition of A Healthy Mind, is Dr. Karen Weise, who has a clinical practice in Northwest, Washington, DC, where she treats children, adolescents, and young adults for assessment and therapy. She has particular clinical interests in the assessment and treatment of autism spectrum disorders, gender variance, adoption, and parent consultation. Before, joining the professional psychology faculty at The George Washington University, Dr. Weise has been on the faculty of the American School of Professional Psychology, and a teaching analyst and member of the child faculty at the Washington Baltimore Center of Psychoanalysis. She has also taught and supervised at the Washington School of Psychiatry. Welcome Dr. Weise.”
Dr. Weise: “Thank you for having me!”
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Well, tell me a little bit about your practice in treating children. What age range do you treat exactly?”
Dr. Weise: “Well, umm, I see kids from really the age of 3 years old, as young as that, all the way up through adolescents and even some young adults, so I would just call the whole group ‘youth’. So, I see lots of different issues, and questions, and challenges, across that, probably that pretty wide-age group there.”
Dr. Marshall Woods: “I can imagine from seeing individuals from 3 all the way to young adulthood, there’s a number of different of aspects why they may want to come in for therapy services. What areas do you find parents, lets say, bring their children in most for do you find?”
Dr. Weise: “I think that, you know, most parents really do the best they can, and try the hardest to help their kids with whatever problems come up. And, certainly there are a lot of issues that children present with that, or just little developmental blimps or hurdles that may just pass without consulting with a psychologist or a therapist. But, usually parents will bring their children, or their teenagers, when they’re concerned, you know. They’re concerned that anything they tried to do, as parents, to be helpful to their children isn’t really helping quite enough. And, umm, they feel like they might benefit from an outside sort of point of view, or pair of eyes, or someone to try to be helpful to their kids.
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Do you find that, umm, individuals, who let’s say that come in for developmental blimps, do you find that their treatment is shorter term than individuals who are struggling or maybe experiencing a hurdle.”
Dr. Weise: “Absolutely, and one thing I would add to that also is that in terms of younger children, a lot of times if there are developmental questions or challenges, I don’t even necessarily ever meet with the children. Because if a child is 3, or 4, or 5, often parents would come in for consultation and just ask for some input, and I usually with the younger kids start with just trying to work through the parents, sort of speak; by giving them some input and some different ways of thinking, maybe, about what their child is experiencing and how they can be helpful with their child. So, I mean I’ve met with many families over the years that I’ve never even met the child or only met the child once for, you know, a kind of screening appointment. But, it’s the parents who do the hard work.”
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Wow, that’s really fascinating I’m not sure if individuals would have conceptualized the fact that, sometimes their children can get services and treatment, while they’re not the actual ones in the therapy room, that is fascinating. So, do you find that, as that child grows, that the parent will continue to work with you, to try to gain some strategies to work in the home?”
Dr. Weise: “Yeah, often I have families who’ve stayed in touch, certainly not on a weekly or maybe not even a monthly basis, but has stayed in touch over the years. Because certainly, you know, as you know, that depending what age the child is and what sort of developmental challenges they may be faced with, the kind of problems can change and so the tools the child is using and the family’s using to try to help the child adjust, or cope, or manage better, they need to change too, over time…”
Please visit https://youtu.be/wRBQyTNhT3M to see the remaining portion of this interview.