Kids In The Middle Testimonial – Ashley, age 10

I started going to Kids In The Middle after my mom & dad separated. I was very sad and depressed. And for some reason, I don’t know why, I just started pulling my eyelashes and my eyebrows out. My mom was very upset, but I didn’t want to talk with her. I thought she might get mad at me. So that’s when I went to Kids In The Middle. At first, I was really nervous, and I thought I might get embarrassed about what was going on or if people looked at me. And I was scared because I didn’t know what to expect there. But when I met my therapist, she was really nice and I wasn’t scared anymore. All the therapists were really nice and I liked talking with them. That’s what really helped me the most – just being able to talk to someone else, and I knew they wouldn’t tell anybody what I said, or they wouldn’t judge me.

I really liked talking with the other kids in the group and hearing what they had to say, because I knew the other kids were going through the same thing as me. And I wanted to see how they handled things. It made me feel not so alone, and it made me feel more normal. The group kind of made me forget about the separation, and sometimes we would even talk about other things that were bothering us, too. The group helped me grow and cope better.

The therapists taught me how to deal with my feelings and how to handle situations. My therapist gave me a list of how to cope with your worries and your stress. On the list there were healthy ways to cope, and there were unhealthy ways.

www.kidsinthemiddle.org