Mad River Behavioral Health

Our dedication is to the whole child.  Our interest extends to the child’s family, neighborhood, school, and community.  Each child’s well-being is contingent on the well-being of the extended network surrounding and supporting their growth. Our interest in the whole child includes their well-rounded and well-balanced development.  We must attend to each area of need and support carefully weighted, balanced, and multi-dimensional growth: music, art, sports, friendship, family, hobbies and interests, academic achievement, ethical and spiritual well-being.  No one area can be allowed to consume our attention at the expense of another area.  We must remain flexible and responsive to the child’s needs. We must nurture each child’s strengths and carefully attend to their weaknesses. Elements of Character, Development, and a Healthy Lifestyle:  Honesty Creative Well-being Cooperation / Teamwork Physical Well-being Work Emotional Well...

Never pay children for helping out at home. Being a cooperative and productive member of the family, making a contribution to the whole, is an expected part of life. Raising children according to a constructive value system is foundational to preparing children for a good, happy, healthy, successful life. Values: Clean up after your self Pitch in Be cooperative Be helpful Be respectful of self, others, property. All of these values are part of helping out at home. If kids want more money, they can help themselves and the family by earning it outside the family. Paying children to help out at home does not teach a valuable life lesson. Children come pre-wired to be good workers and you will teach them budgeting and purchasing skills as they are growing up.  The vast majority of young children want to help out at home; they want to load the dishwasher and washing machine, move laundry from washer to dryer, run the vacuum cleaner, etc. If they don't naturally want t...

Character strength is required in order to overcome the obstacles, challenges, and hardships of life.   No life goes unchallenged, is free from hurdles and hardship.  As parents, it is our purpose to endow our children with the skills, characteristics, and values they will need, not just to survive periods of intense difficulty, but to be ready and able to rise to the occasion.   ***** Many parents understand this.  However, some parents believe they must subject their children to hardship and drive them relentlessly as preparation.  I disagree with this perspective on parenting. Note: All of these blog posts are based on case compilations involving 100s of the children and families I've worked with over the years.  A safe, secure attachment and a safe and loving home is the strongest foundation for success in life. Parents do not prepare children for hardship by being harsh or cruel to them.  Parents prepare children for hardships by provid...

Square Peg, Meet Round Hole Parent Advocacy Often times it may seem as if the systems and institutions our children are required to navigate are set in place to conspire against them. *****   Children will face many challenges as they grow and develop.    There are times during which we will be required to advocate for system change on behalf of our children. The system may or may not respond in a constructive manner. Some elements may; others may not. Regardless of how the system responds, these situations also provide us with a golden opportunity to coach our children on the character strengths, values, and skills needed to successfully navigate difficult situations and systems in life. Very few systems are perfect, if any.  The vast majority of work places are mediocre, at best.   As reported in a Harvard Business Review article, a study by Life Meets Work found that 56% of American workers claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic....