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Dr. Imani Walker, Married to Medicine Los Angeles cast

Source: Courtesy Bravo / NBC Universal

 

Dr. Imani Walker of Bravo’s Married to Medicine Los Angeles, shared with Yahoo about the challenges she faced during this pandemic with her son. If you have watched the show you may be aware that her son’s father is not in his life and Dr. Imani ended last season sharing that she will be getting a divorce from her husband who stepped in and filled the void for her son. So with these changes on top of a pandemic, things got overwhelming very quickly.

The CDC reported that from April to October of 2020, the number of children between the ages of 5 and 11 visiting an emergency department due to a mental health issue increased by 24% compared to 2019. Those ages 12 to 17, increased by 31%. Dr. Walker who is a psychiatrist shared that “The biggest challenge I faced during the pandemic as a parent is getting my son to open up to me”. She also added that kids are prone to not being open about how they feel, and that the stress can cause other symptoms. She recommends several ways for parents to help their children during this difficult time.

“It’s always a good idea to just talk to your kids and say, ‘hey, you know, it might be helpful for you to maybe have a therapist, someone who you feel like you can just talk to and just kind of get your feelings and your stressors and whatever you feel might be making your body tight, just get it out of you,’” she suggests. “I think we need to be a bit more vulnerable with our kids. And also we need to just spend more time with them. This is too much of an unprecedented time and we really don’t have a roadmap for how things are supposed to be.”

See more from this interview by clicking here.

 

Married to Medicine’s Dr. Imani Walker Gives Parenting Advice During The Pandemic  was originally published on mymajicdc.com