The Effect of Interruptions on Therapeutic Needs of Elementary School Children with High Levels of Care

Abstract

By Paige Eckenrode, Social Work

Advisor: Gary Dick

Presentation ID: AM_C06

Abstract: St. Joseph Orphanage offers many different types of services for children and families living in the Cincinnati area. One of the services that is offered, is outpatient school based psychotherapy which is provided in many different local school districts. Carson Elementary School is a traditional style elementary school in the Cincinnati Public School District (Ohio Department of Education, 2018). There are currently four St. Joe's employees at Carson, two therapists and two case managers, that provide treatment throughout the day for clients at the school. While practitioners are at work, they are frequently dealing with interruptions that occur throughout the day at Carson. These frequent interruptions have caused therapists at the school to not be able to meet their clients at the correct level of care. This can have a major effect on their course of treatment and can hinder their discharge from psychotherapy entirely. The central aim of this study is to categorize the types of interruptions that occur during psychotherapy sessions and formulate methods to decrease the number of interruptions that warrant a therapeutic response.