Olney Counseling Center has been providing professional mental health services to Montgomery, Howard, and Frederick counties for the past 20 years and we are excited to announce that we are expanding our services to include:
THERAPEUTIC VISITATION AND SUPERVISED VISITATION
The goal of our therapeutic visitation and supervised visitation program is to provide a safe, secure, and supportive environment where a non-custodial parent and child can begin to rebuild or strengthen their relationship. Therapeutic and supervised visitation teaches the non-custodial parent to interact with their child in a slow, thoughtful way that will hopefully lead to decreased interventions by the court and other professionals.
During these visits, a trained mental health professional will be present during all interactions to ensure the physical and emotional safety of the child. Therapeutic and supervised visitation is typically court ordered and/or occurs in high conflict families where there has been identified abuse or inappropriate behavioral patterns.
Therapeutic Visitation:
Therapeutic visitation is appropriate for families who have been involved with the court, have experienced domestic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse allegations, high conflict family dynamics or have experienced severe alienating behaviors.
Therapeutic visitation involves a licensed clinical mental health professional, the non-custodial parent, and the child. The professional has experience and training in child development, parent-child attachment, and will impart this knowledge to the non-custodial during the visit. Therapeutic visitation utilizes interventions similar strategies in family therapy or parent coaching. The emphasis of therapeutic visitation is to provide hands on and immediate parenting strategies to the parent DURING the visitation session.
Some of the goals will be to teach the non-custodial parent:
- More effective parenting strategies.
- How to attune to their child’s needs.
- Redirect inappropriate behaviors and conversations.
- Increase their understanding of age-appropriate developmental milestones.
- The impact of parenting, attachment, and nurture on the parent-child relationship.
The advantage of therapeutic supervision is that the professional will use and model appropriate parenting skills while in the presence of the parent so that they can practice these skills in a safe and supportive environment. At the end of the visit, the mental health professional will spend approximately 15 minutes after the visit with the non-custodial parent to review what went well during the visit, what might be more effective in the future, and what to expect during the following visits.
Supervised Visitation:
Supervised visitation is like therapeutic visitation however the trained professional will not be providing parenting strategies and interventions during the visit between the non-custodial parent and their child. The professional will ensure the emotional and physical safety of the child and will intervene or stop the visit if inappropriate interactions occur between the parent and child. Andrea Quismorio
Inappropriate Behaviors During Visits:
To ensure the emotional and physical safety of the child, certain behaviors and interactions will not be allowed during the visit and may result in termination of the visit. Visits will not take place if the visiting parent appears to be under the influence of alcohol and/or illegal drugs, including prescription drugs that may impair their judgement.
The following are some examples of inappropriate behaviors (this list is not exhaustive.)
- No whispering.
- No passing Notes, documents, or money.
- No cell phone use.
- No rough Play.
- No Physical discipline.
- No promises or statements regarding parenting time.
- No negative conversations or harsh tones.
- No physical threats or violent acts.
- No discussion of the court case and/or possible future outcomes for visitation.
- Any other case specific boundaries.
Locations of the therapeutic supervised visits:
The parents and the professional in the case will determine the location of the visits. Visits will occur for a minimum of two-hour sessions and can occur in our office, in the non-custodial parent’s home, in restaurants, shops, and other activities, etc.
What to expect:
Prior to therapeutic or supervised visitation, the mental health professional will meet individually with each parent to familiarize themselves with the case, what they can expect from the child, understand barriers to possible supervision and they can be best facilitate successful visitation. During this time the professional will also meet with the child briefly to make sure that they know who the professional is and how they can help.
In therapeutic supervision, the licensed therapist will request and review all court documents. If other cases deem it necessary, the professional will also review important documents.
Once the supervisor has met with the parents and the child(dren), supervision dates, times, and locations will be determined. Summaries will be provided after each visit.
Cost:
Therapeutic Supervised Visitation-$210/hour for a 2-hour minimum
Supervised Visitation-$85/hour for a 2-hour minimum
Payment is expected at the time of service and the parent(s) responsible for payment will be required to provide a credit card to be debited at the time of service.
Therapeutic and Supervised Visitation is NOT CONFIDENTIAL
Courts, attorneys, parents, and other professionals involved in the case may request copies of the visit summaries as the process is not confidential. In some cases, the licensed mental health professional may be subpoenaed to testify in the case and additional costs will be incurred by the parent who initiated the subpoena.
