5 Ways to Get the Most of Your Time as a Spring Ridge Parent

Engage

Show up for family therapy and parent workshops ready to participate honestly. Do your own work with a therapist at home. Come to campus and shadow a class, meet our staff, and share a meal with us. Join our parent groups and connect with other Spring Ridge parents.

Focus

Be sure to focus on yourself and your process. It is easy to focus on the external parts and pieces around you or your student: Discharge date, the food, the weather, or the behavior of others. However, strength is built in the struggle, so don’t discount your or your student’s ability to overcome the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors that prevent connection and success.

Communicate

There are two critical pieces to communication: sharing and listening. Without both pieces, communication is impossible. Share your experience honestly. Ask the questions that keep you up at night. Ask for support when you need it. Listen to understand others’ experiences. Listen without the need to respond. Reflect what you hear to make sure that you have understood, and don’t be afraid to ask others to reflect back on what you have said, so you feel heard.

Commit

Commitment is a crucial behavior for success. When you make a commitment and keep it, you build trust with the other person and with yourself. When you break commitments, you create instability in your relationships. Because commitment is vital, make sure you only make commitments that you can keep. This requires that you have boundaries around your time and energy.

Complete

Much like commitment, completion is critical to building trust with yourself. Completing a task, goal, or project creates evidence that you can reverse the avoidance associated with anxiety and depression.