My Services
Trauma-Informed, Evidence-Based Treatments
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What is Traumatic Stress?
Traumatic stress is an emotional response to a shocking, scary, or dangerous experience. It affects how a person thinks, feels, and acts. Most people will experience an event in their lifetime that can be considered traumatic, but not everyone experiences traumatic stress. Traumatic experiences and traumatic stress can occur at any age.
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How Does Treatment Start?
I begin treatment by gathering information. I meet with children and their caregivers separately and ask about the different thoughts, feelings, and behaviors children typically experience following a traumatic event. DETAILS SURROUNDING TRAUMATIC EVENTS ARE NEVER DISCUSSED WITH CHILDREN DURING THIS MEETING. Afterward, I use the information I collected to determine an appropriate diagnosis and treatment modality— this is required for insurance providers to cover the cost of services. This process takes 1 hour, and services begin 1 to 2 weeks later depending on the family’s availability. All of my services are available in-person or via telehealth.
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Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
TF-CBT is considered the “best practice standard” for treating traumatic stress in children between the ages of 3 and 18. Treatment typically lasts anywhere from 3 to 6 months. Children who participate in TF-CBT with me learn about common reactions to trauma, acquire personalized coping strategies for tolerating distress, and gain empowerment as they gradually share their stories through creative mediums such as comic books, puppet shows, and collages. Caregivers who work with me learn useful ways to support their children through treatment. I also spend time teaching caregivers strategies for ensuring their children’s safety and progress after they graduate from therapy.
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The Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention
CFTSI is a brief treatment (5 to 8 sessions) used with children ages 7 to 18 within 45 days of a potentially traumatic experience. Through CFTSI, I help children and their caregivers communicate effectively about potentially traumatic experiences to prevent the onset of traumatic stress symptomatology. I also teach children and caregivers tailored strategies for managing trauma responses. Following CFTSI, I assess families for longer-term treatment.
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Cognitive Processing Therapy
CPT is a structured therapy (exactly 12 sessions) that I use with some older teens. During CPT, I help my patients identify unhelpful thoughts that are preventing them from moving forward after traumatic events. Once we identify these thoughts, we discuss ways to challenge and change them to develop new, more balanced ways of thinking.
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Special Cases
I have limited, reserved availability for cases involving children (ages 7 to 12) initiating problematic sexual behaviors with other children (PSB-CBT).
I also have limited, reserved availability for cases involving caregivers using harsh disciplinary practices with their children (AF-CBT).
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
(available in-person or via telehealth)
PCIT is a treatment designed for caregivers of children, between the ages of 2 and 7, who have behavioral difficulties.
Treatment length typically varies from caregiver to caregiver. The modality is broken into 2 distinct phases. Caregivers move from the first phase to the second phase once they’ve mastered phase-specific skills. Caregivers graduate from treatment after they’ve successfully completed the second phase of therapy.
Throughout the first phase, I help caregivers learn and master skills for building positive connections with their children. In the second phase, I teach caregivers effective parenting strategies for managing their children’s challenging behaviors.
By the end of treatment, caregivers demonstrate improved health, reduced stress, increased calmness and confidence while disciplining their children, and decreased use of negative parenting strategies (e.g., physical discipline). Children demonstrate increased self-esteem and decreased disruptive behaviors, defiance, and trauma symptoms (in relevant cases). Some studies have found that these treatment gains can be maintained for up to 6 years!
ADHD Testing
In the too recent past, many people thought ADHD was make-believe. All kids get distracted and squirrely— just tell them to knock it off. If kids were diagnosed with ADHD, the “cure” was typically encouraging self-discipline and/or team sports. This oversimplification was inaccurate and harmful. ADHD has always been a highly individualized and complex mental health diagnosis. Now we’re catching up!
When it comes to ADHD in the Fargo/Moorhead area, here’s what I’ve noticed:
Many are forgoing formal testing, and kids are being diagnosed with screeners during annual check-ups.
It can take months or even YEARS to get in anywhere for formal psychological testing.
Once families get in for testing, they often leave with more questions than answers.
If you take anything away from my website, I hope it’s this: ADHD symptoms overlap with many other mental health diagnoses and vary between male and female children. Solely diagnosing with a checklist can result in misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses— each with serious negative consequences (e.g., lack of access to appropriate treatment, medication shortages, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, difficulties managing daily tasks, academic struggles, job instability, and increased risk of driving accidents and substance abuse).
When I opened Ani Mangold Psychological Services PLLC, I aimed to improve access to quality care by providing streamlined testing processes and quick turn-arounds. Each family I work with is also provided with a report that is easy to read and understand. I make it a point to provide detailed recommendations that are tailored to each child to ensure they have a better chance of success. I really do mean it when I say that ADHD can be a superpower when it’s properly diagnosed and treated!
What You Can Expect
After a family contacts me about ADHD testing, I enter their child into my system and set up their first appointment. This appointment lasts for 1 hour and can be held in-person or via telehealth. Children 14+ and their caregiver(s) attend this first appointment together. For children under 14, I meet with caregivers one-on-one. If I’m given permission, I also reach out to other adults in the child’s day-to-day life (e.g., teachers) to gather information!
Next, I contact the family’s insurance provider to get permission to start testing— If I don’t, coverage may be denied. This step takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 days, depending on the insurance company. Once I get permission, children are scheduled for their in-person testing appointments (~2 hours). During this appointment, I provide measures that look at children’s verbal abilities, spatial understanding, creative problem-solving skills, working memory, task-completion speed, attention, impulsivity, thought and action regulation abilities, social behaviors, and emotional behaviors.
Afterwards, I compile the results and my recommendations. I meet with families 2 weeks after testing, via telehealth, to discuss the report and answer their questions. Families are then given a copy of the report, marking testing as “complete.” However, I ensure that families know I’m always available for ongoing support and any questions that may pop up!
