It's 6:40 pm on a Tuesday, and there's a math worksheet on the kitchen table. The first problem goes fine. The second one is a word problem. The pencil goes down, the head goes onto the arms, and out comes some version of "I can't do this. I'm stupid." Twenty minutes of coaxing later, the worksheet is crumpled, somebody's crying, and it might be you....

Your client can name their triggers. They can walk you through what happened before, during, and after a difficult moment without much prompting, spot the cognitive distortion before you do, and tell you exactly which skill applies. Session content is genuinely good.

Over the first couple of weeks, the calls were longer. Photos of the dorm, a new friend's name, a professor they actually liked. Now it's short texts. "All good." "Busy, call you later." Later doesn't come.

It's Sunday, around 6pm, and the feeling arrives right on schedule. Not panic, exactly. More like a weight settling in as the week comes into view. You'll open your laptop on the couch "just to get ahead," answer a message that could have waited until Monday.

It's 3:00pm and you're in the pickup line. The last email from school said your kid is "a pleasure to have in class." They get in the car, and within about four minutes something small sets them off. The wrong snack. A question about the math test. The radio.

There's a version of this that most parents recognize immediately. You say something neutral. Your kid hears something else. Suddenly you're defending yourself, they're defending themselves, door slamming is involved.

There's a particular version of this story we hear a lot. A parent calls, a little apologetic, because they're not sure if their problem counts. Their kid is doing well, academically. Grades are good. College list is in order. Teachers like them. From the outside, nothing is wrong.

It usually starts small. A stomachache on Monday morning. A headache that shows up reliably at 7am and disappears by noon. Then it's a missed day here and there, then a pattern, then the conversation you've been dreading with the vice principal about attendance.

Your client just discharged from a summer program in the second or third week of August. A residential stay, a therapeutic program, an IOP, maybe an outdoor behavioral health program that wrapped with the season.