It’s OK to ask for help

In her short 11 years, Peyten has experienced a lot. She has been bullied at school. A fellow student threatened to kill her. And there have been family issues.

“I know more things than an 11-year-old should,” Peyten said.

Her mom, Jessi Benson, said Peyten, who is a fifth-grader, is very mature for her age.

“I have to be the grownup sometimes,” Peyten said.

It used to be that Peyten would keep her feelings bottled up inside. Then they would eventually boil over in fits of anger.

Through her relationship with her Bert Nash therapist, Nikki Hutchison, Peyten has learned how to deal with her feelings and frustrations.

“When she first came in, Peyten was having some struggles with being effective with her communication,” said Nikki, who is a Child and Family Services therapist at Bert Nash. “She had a lot of emotional build-up.”

Peyten and Nikki were a good fit. Peyten felt an immediate connection with her therapist. At Nikki’s suggestion, Peyten started journaling and she began doing an emoji diary, so she could track how she was feeling.

“I had trouble talking about my feelings,” Peyten said. “But Nikki helped me get stuff off my chest. Therapy helped me get those bad memories out of my mind. It was nice to explain how I feel to someone and have them listen. That helped a lot.”

Peyten’s mom and her grandmother DeeAnn have always been her confidants. But the bullying at school was difficult for Peyten to deal with, even with the support of her mom and grandmother.

“Someone threatened to kill me and made fun of me a lot,” Peyten said. “I got really upset and had thoughts of worthlessness and self-doubt.”

Peyten’s mom was understandably alarmed.

“It absolutely terrified me,” Jessi said. “I didn’t want to send her back to school at all. As a parent, I shouldn’t have to worry about sending my third-grader to school because of her safety from another child.”

That’s when Jessi decided to have Peyten see a therapist at Bert Nash.

“I had gone to Bert Nash myself,” Jessi said. “So I knew that therapy can help. It’s nice to know we have that resource if we need it. I went when I was 18 and spoke with a therapist and it helped.”

For Peyten, therapy, along with a change of schools, indeed helped.

“Nikki gave Peyten the confidence that it was OK to feel the way that she was feeling,” her  grandmother DeeAnn said. “That she had the right to feel the way she was feeling. That it was OK to ask for help.”

Now, Peyten is doing so much better, both personally and at school. Peyten’s mom and grandmother couldn’t be more proud. And they are grateful for the help  Peyten received from her Bert Nash therapist, Nikki.

“When you need to talk to someone, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help,” DeeAnn said. “I think the biggest thing I’ve seen is the confidence Peyten has in herself from going to therapy. She was scared to let her feelings out before or even talk about them. Nikki has helped her realize it’s OK to share your feelings.”