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The 6 Stages of Allergy Parenting

4/28/2022

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[For more detailed information on each stage, check out The 6 Stages of Allergy Parenting Explained post after reading this one. Download the free, printable "6 Stages of Food Allergy Parenting" packet here.]

Have you ever noticed that so much of the parenting guidance out there is focused on what children are going through at each stage of their development? While that's helpful information for parents to know, it doesn't tell parents what THEIR parenting tasks are for each stage of their child's development.
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That's where Ellen Galinsky's work comes in!  Her research led to the development of the Six Stages of Parenthood, which focuses on how PARENTS develop at the same time their child develops.

This framework helps parents understand if they're focusing on the appropriate tasks associated with their child's stage of development, are falling behind, or pushing too fast too quickly.

As with any guidelines, they're just that - guidelines. They're not hard and fast rules. However, I think we can all agree that parenting is hard, so any helpful guidance is welcome!
​

The Six Stages of Allergy Parenting

Adapted from Ellen Galinsky's work, licensed family therapist and founder of this Food Allergy Counselor Directory and website, Tamara Hubbard developed the Six Stages of Allergy Parenting after recognizing that allergy parents could benefit from parenting guidance specific to allergy parenting and the associated emotional aspects.

This purpose of this framework is 
primarily to offer guidance related to the emotional and mindset aspects of allergy parenting, which is often overlooked in allergy parenting guidance currently available. It essentially offers parents a framework to help them develop their mindset and parenting choices for each stage of parenting, which directly impacts their child's ability to learn how to live confidently with allergies.  While overall allergy management skills/goals are noted for each phase, the guidance is heavily infused with information related to the allergy emotional tasks helpful for parents to be aware of and/or develop during each stage. (For more information on what to teach your child at each stage of their development, check out this Allergic Living article).
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Six Stage of Allergy Parenting chart, created by Tamara Hubbard, LCPC
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​How to Use this Chart: 

The information below explains each column in more depth: 
  • Stages: The names of each stage are from Ellen Galinsky's work. These titles are used to identify the period of time associated with the child's development, but are instead focused on the parental growth process, which happens in tandem with the child's growth process.  
  • Acts As The.... Tamara created these labels to help further illustrate a parent's role and goals for each stage.
  • Child's Age: Identifies the age and stage of the child's development.
  • Parents' Goals: Summarizes the overall goals for parents for each stage of their child's development, based on Ellen Galinsky's research. 
  • Allergy Tasks: Summarizes the overall allergy parenting task/focus for each stage of a child's development. Each stage builds upon the previous stages. ​

​How This Framework Helps Allergy Parents: 
The Six Stages of Allergy Parenting offers allergy parents a framework to help them better understand how to parent an allergic child throughout the child, teen and young adult years. More specifically, this guidance helps parents with:
  • Identifying When Emotions Are Getting in the Way: Offers the ability to identify if your own parental anxiety, fear, and overwhelm has actually stunted your child's ability to learn how to navigate life with their allergies OR has resulted in trying to teach your child too much, too quickly in order to calm your intense emotions. ​
  • Assessing Their Own Progress: Offers a way to more effectively assess whether you're on or off target with the main parenting focuses for each stage of development, as allergy parenting adds an additional layer to the mix.
  • Teaching Allergy Skills: Offers a look at the overall allergy management and allergy emotional skills you should focus on teaching your child at each stage. This is important because children learn through scaffolding, or building upon previously learned concepts. Therefore, it's helpful if their allergy AND emotional skills build throughout their development. For example, if a child reaches adolescence and is missing basic allergy management skills, it will be hard for them to reach adolescent goals, such as learning to take more responsibility for their safety and being away from home on their own. 
  • Checking For Emotional and Knowledge Gaps: Offers a framework to help see if you and/or your children need to revisit allergy emotional or allergy management skills. This can often be the case if the last allergic reaction happened many years ago, and you've become more comfortable managing allergies. It's helpful to do a quick check at the beginning of each stage of development to see if you need to revisit forgotten or lost skills from previous stages, fill any knowledge gaps, or assess emotional readiness. 

Want More Specific Information on Each Stage? 
Check out this following up post: The 6 Stages of Allergy Parenting Explained

Think This Chart Will Help Others?
You can download the free, printable "6 Stages of Food Allergy Parenting" packet here, which is useful for both those managing allergies and healthcare/behavioral healthcare providers supporting them]​​
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If you want to make sure you don't miss more of this kind of psychosocial information, be sure to Subscribe to The Food Allergy Counselor emails (at the bottom of the homepage or via the pop-up), as well as the FAC social media accounts. And THE BONUS for subscribing to the FAC emails? You'll get the free, 3-page Allergy Anxiety & Overwhelm Mini -Guide. 
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And if you're needing more allergy-related psychosocial support, don't forget to check out the Food Allergy Counselor Directory, the Exploring Food Allergy Families podcast, the Food Allergy Behavioral Health Resource section, and the allergy-specific therapeutic worksheets. 
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Do you value the Food Allergy Counselor Directory and the support it provides to the allergy community? Want to see it expand with additional providers? Contact founder Tamara Hubbard, LCPC for sponsorship opportunities! 
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New Tool To Better Understand How Allergies Impact Our Patients' Lives

3/6/2022

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When an allergic patient or parent of a child managing an allergy reaches out for therapy, it's important for me to learn how the allergy impacts their lives. Sure, they are reaching out because they feel overwhelmed or anxious about their allergy, but that's just the overall picture. And in order to truly help my patients, I need to get a more detailed picture. 
I do this by asking patients to complete the appropriate Food Allergy Psychosocial Information Form as part of their intake paperwork. The responses on this form gives me a solid glimpse into their quality of life, which domains are most impacted, and psychosocial themes that may need adjusting. It's a tool that has helped me more effectively meet my patients' needs and ensure they're feeling understood for years now. 

After sharing these forms during consultation sessions with allergy practices and fellow therapists, it became clear that these tools may be beneficial to others. Therefore, I've decided to offer them to allergy and therapy practitioners, too.

Read on to learn more about how they're beneficial to both patients and providers!
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The Food Allergy Psychosocial Information Forms are premade AND customizable! That means that you don't have to spend time creating them, and can personalize them with your practice's logo and information.

​Versions available:
  • Therapy Practice Version - child, adolescent, adult, parent/caregiver
  • Allergy Practice Version - child, adolescent, adult, parent/caregiver
  • Currently available in paper format; fillable format coming soon
    ​
What are the differences between the therapy and allergy practice versions? 
All four forms are available for both, but questions vary slightly between both versions so that they are more tailored to the scope of the practices.  
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What Information Does These Forms Gather:
These patient narrative forms allow for detailed responses on themes such as: 
  • Allergy mindset and outlook
  • Anxiety levels and quality of life (QoL) impacts
  • Behavioral changes (i.e. restricted eating patterns, limiting experiences)
  • Impactful memories from previous reactions
  • Epinephrine knowledge and/or fear of use
  • Allergy care guidelines being implemented
  • Sources used to learn allergy information
  • Allergy impacts in various domains
  • How patients manage their allergy well
  • What information will help patients decrease anxiety/increase QoL
    ​
Benefits of Using These Forms in Therapy Practices: 
  • Premade and customizable for your practice​
  • ​​One form gathers anxiety-related QoL, anxiety and functioning information
  • Patient narrative format helps with treatment goal planning
  • Patient may feel more comfortable sharing this information initially in writing
  • Potential networking tool with allergy practices - helps allergists identify patients who may benefit from therapeutic support to positively impact QoL
    ​
Benefits of Using These Forms in Allergy Practices: 
  • ​Premade and customizable for your practice
  • One form gathers anxiety-related QoL, anxiety and functioning information
  • Opportunity for patients to feel heard/more easily express allergy struggles
  • Helps identify patients' allergy knowledge gaps or inaccurate information
  • Helps assess potential need for allied health services (i.e. therapist, dietitian)
  • Identifies themes to reassess/revisit with patients in future appointments
​
Suggestions/Tips For Use:
  • For All - Give to patients as part of intake paperwork process
  • For Allergy Practices - If allergist is unable to review due to time constraints, consider having another team member review and share main points​


Narrative Versus Validated Patient Forms?
It's like comparing apples and oranges - both are fruit, but different kinds. Both narrative and validated forms gather valuable patient information, but in different manners. 

Validated assessments, such as the Survey of Food Allergy Anxiety (SOFAA), typically assess functioning and impacts that helps drive diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Patient narrative forms, such as these Food Allergy Psychosocial Information Forms, primarily gather information to aid in understanding the whole patient. While they may also be used to help determine treatment decisions, their primary purpose is gathering information that helps to facilitate conversations and problem-solve with patients. 
[The images above show the Parent/Caregiver - Therapy Practice version]
Visit the "Worksheets" page to check out and learn more about these Food Allergy Psychosocial Information Forms​, and don't hesitate to reach out with questions!

Special introductory pricing is available through March 31, 2022, and there will always be a discount for purchasing the package, which includes all 4 forms. 

Direct URL to the Worksheets page: www.FoodAllergyAnxiety.com​
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3 marketing tips for therapists providing Food Allergy Counseling services

2/28/2021

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Image source: Pixabay
​Since starting the Food Allergy Counselor Directory and website in 2018, I routinely get emails from counseling and psychology graduate students considering focusing on working with those managing food allergies. (And I always take the time to pay-it-forward and chat with these students!)

But I also get frequent emails from therapists who personally and professionally understand IgE-mediated food allergies and want to consider adding food allergy counseling services in their private practices. The top comments and questions I get from these emails are: 
  • "I had no idea this was even a clinical focus or area of counseling!"
  • "How do you market food allergy counseling services?"
  • "Are you able to actually get clients with a food allergy counseling focus?"

​A relationship builder at heart, I also take the time to connect with the therapists who reach out to me about food allergy counseling, either informally or more formally through my consultation services. Since I receive common questions in many of these emails, I decided to write a post to share the basic answers. But before I jump into the marketing tips, let's first explore WHY there's a need for food allergy counseling services. 

Why food allergy counseling services are needed 

Approximately 32 million Americans manage food allergies. While many may associate food allergies with children, rates of adult allergies, including adult-onset allergies are rising. Per this recent study from Dr. Ruchi Gupta and colleagues, almost 11% of adults manage food allergies, with nearly 19% believing they have a food allergy. 

No matter the age of the individuals managing food allergies, reports of increased anxiety, and psychosocial and quality of life impacts are common. Here is a brief snapshot of common psychosocial impacts reported:
  • Increased anxiety and decreased quality of life reported across the lifespan and by caregivers;
  • Wide variety of feelings including frustration, stress, isolation, anxiety, tension experienced due to managing food allergies;
  • Marital strain due to parenting children with food allergies (in this study, 1 in 4 parents reported marital strain);
  • Experiencing resentment from others when food allergy accommodations impact others;
  • Experiencing food allergy-related bullying and hostility from others;
  • Perceived or actual limitations related to activities, travel, relationships, etc.
Additionally, results from this recent survey (of food allergy centers) on the availability of mental healthcare services for those managing food allergies suggests: 
  • ​Allergists/physicians are noticing food allergy-related mental health concerns in their patients and/or caregivers; 
  • Counseling may be beneficial at key points for those managing allergies, such as at diagnosis, during age/child development stage transitions, and when doing oral food challenges and treatments
  • Mental health concerns and food aversions also observed during food allergy treatments, and after allergic reactions and epinephrine use

These descriptions are brief, but help paint a clear picture of the WHY and NEED for support services from allergy-informed licensed clinical mental healthcare providers.

​Now, let's move on to HOW to market yourself if you're an allergy-informed therapist and ready to add the food allergy counseling niche to your practice!

​(If you're a therapist that is not well-versed in food allergies, but would like to learn more about them in order to provide support to patients, stay tuned for posts and podcast episodes on this topic). 

Marketing Tips for food allergy Counseling

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Image source: Pixabay
Below are three key marketing tips for allergy-informed licensed clinical therapists, psychologists, social workers, ​and marriage and family therapists looking to expand their practices to include food allergy counseling services. 
#1: HELP CLIENTS FIND YOU BY LISTING "FOOD ALLERGIES" AS A CLINICAL FOCUS
I know this may seem like complete common sense, but I can't tell you how many times I come across a therapist's website with no mention of food allergies as a clinical area of focus, yet, they want to grow within this niche. 

At the very least, it's important to mention food allergy counseling or support somewhere on your website. Even if you don't want to dedicate a separate page on your site, or even a description of how you can support those managing food allergies, just listing food allergies in your list of clinical focuses helps clients know that this is a service you provide. 

If you do want to describe your food allergy-focused therapy services, here are some ideas to help you with writing about those services:
  • Specify client age you work with - some are looking for support for their children/teens, while others want support for themselves as adults or caregivers
  • List common psychosocial impacts you can help allergic clients address and process
  • Describe the therapeutic models you use to support those managing food allergies
  • ​Share helpful reputable resources related to food allergies, psychosocial support, etc.
  • Write blog posts or snippets on food allergy topics and post on your website or social media accounts 

Taking this tip one step further, it's also helpful to list food allergies as an area of focus on your practice's social media profiles and pages. Again, seems like common sense, but this one is often overlooked, too. 

And, if you're good with website management and/or coding, throw some food allergy counseling-related words into the SEO section of your website!
​
#2: THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX & THEN CONNECT WITH ALLERGISTS
In almost every online clinical mental healthcare provider forum or group I'm a member of, the discussion of HOW to market therapy services to medical practices gets explored. What marketing materials should we drop off or mail (business cards, flyers, rack cards)? Should we spend money on swag and treats for them in order to help our practice stand out? 

While these are all personal choices related to how you want to market your practice, here's the advice I will offer on how to market your services to allergists and allergy practices. 

Before reaching out, think about what you can offer them - what's the benefit of making a connection with you? While many allergists have started assessing their patients' psychosocial impacts, some may not yet have a clear picture of how allergy-informed mental healthcare providers can benefit them, their practices and their patients. 

Think outside of the box here - beyond just being a patient referral source. Here are some ideas to get you started:  
  • If the practice sends out regular newsletters, offer to share therapeutic tips; 
  • Offer to provide quarterly education sessions to their patients on topics such as anxiety management,  navigating bullying situations, building confidence in allergy management, etc.;
  • If they offer food allergy treatments, explore ways in which you can offer consultations or ongoing services in-house to their patients​

Taking this tip one step further - beyond allergists/allergy practices - think about marketing to and networking with local food allergy support groups and dietitians, and if you work with kids, schools and pediatricians. Offer the same kinds of out-of-the-box service ideas in order to help build strong referral relationships. 
​
#3: TO DISCLOSE OR NOT DISCLOSE - THAT IS THE QUESTION
This may seem like less of a marketing tip and more of an ethical practice discussion. But, especially if you've added a food allergy focus to your clinical practice because allergies personally impact your life or the life of a loved one, exploring this consideration is important since clients may inquire. 

In our training to become licensed clinical mental healthcare providers, many of us were taught not to self-disclose personal information to clients, or to do so very purposefully and sparingly. So let's explore this topic more in order to help allergy-informed therapists determine where their boundaries are on allergy-related self-disclosures. 

Potential Benefits of Self-Disclosing Personal Understanding of Food Allergies: 
  • ​Clients often appreciate self-disclosure related to allergy knowledge;
  • Disclosures may help facilitate a deeper therapeutic connection;
  • When focusing on specialized clinical topics such as allergies, clients may gain confidence in your services after learning about your personal understanding

Considerations When Deciding Whether to Self-Disclose This Information: 
  • Will you self-disclose this information to clients AND referral sources (i.e. allergists, food allergy support groups, etc)?
  • Can you disclose information while still following professional and ethical practice guidelines?
  • Explore the purpose of your disclosures. Are you doing so to help clients gain confidence in your allergy understanding/knowledge? Will these disclosures lead to more referrals?
  • Develop firm boundaries about what information and details you will disclose. For instance, will you share specific details about your own or your child's experiences? Will you talk about your diagnosis experience? 
  • If you're comfortable disclosing your personal connection to food allergies, but uncomfortable disclosing personal examples, consider using the therapeutic approach of formulating your personal experiences into "hypothetical client stories" that you can share with other clients.​

Hopefully this piece helped illustrate the need for more allergy-informed clinical mental healthcare providers, and provided a few helpful marketing tips to those who offer food allergy counseling services. 

I'll end with a few related follow up thoughts....
  • If you're a licensed clinical mental healthcare provider that is well-versed in IgE-food allergy knowledge and understands the psychosocial support needs of allergic clients, let's connect! You may meet the criteria to be listed on the Food Allergy Counselor Directory. 
  • If you're a licensed clinical mental healthcare provider that would like to learn more about food allergies and what knowledge is needed to effectively provide food allergy counseling services, let's also connect! I'm happy to answer questions or provide consultation services. 
  • If you're looking for therapeutic or food allergy-related mental health resources, check out the Food Allergy Mental Health Resources page.
  • If you're an allergy-informed licensed clinical mental healthcare provider that would like to be a guest or join a discussion on the Exploring Food Allergy Families podcast, reach out!
​
Thanks for reading, 
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  • Home
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  • Allergy Counseling Niche Info
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Patients
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Therapy Providers
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Allergists
  • Consulting Services
  • About
    • The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc.
    • Founder, Tamara Hubbard, LCPC
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
  • Contact