Our Services
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., ABPP, at the University of Washington, is a comprehensive evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment, originally developed to treat adults diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Since it's inception, DBT has been researched and adapted as a treatment for a broad variety of disorders, including adolescents struggling with emotion and behavioral regulation challenges. DBT therapists attempt to balance acceptance and change strategies while addressing problems in regulating emotions, behavior, and thinking.
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Our Adolescent DBT Program
We specialize in providing a comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program for adolescents and young adults. Honoring the developmental stage of adolescence, we respectfully work as a team with each client to achieve their personal goals through collaborative discussions, patience and skill development. Through the DBT model, we strive to create a patient, supportive and playful environment so teens can be honest with their challenges and take steps towards more effective behaviors.
Clients learn skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness in order to build a life worth living.
Adolescent clients are thoughtfully assessed and placed in the most appropriate DBT skills training group, considering their age, maturity level, challenges and skill need.
DBT for Adolescents
DBT is also been proven to be effective in treating the emotional dysregulation and behavioral challenges seen with many other diagnoses in adolescents including:
o Anxiety
o Depression
o Self-harm
o Suicidal thought and behavior
o Substance Abuse
o Disordered Eating
Parent Consultations
Parenting an adolescent struggling with emotional and behavioral issues can cause stress on the entire family and often, parents find themselves struggling to find supportive ways to respond to their child during these challenges. Our adolescent clients improve thoroughly when the entire family learns similar skills and can practice emotion regulation within the context of the family home.
Therefore, we provide a holistic approach in working with families, prioritizing your child’s relationship with a clinician to directly treat challenges and providing additional sessions with another provider to support parents in learning DBT skills. We provide private and supportive sessions for parents to share their parenting challenges and obtain education and practice in responding to adolescents more effectively. During your child’s participation in our program, our entire team is involved in supporting your family in learning skills through parent education events, one-on-one support and group skills training.
Mental Health Consultations
We provide consultation to mental health providers on the following topics:
o Adolescent therapy
o Dialectical Behavior Therapy
o Self-harm
o Emotional and behavioral challenges
We welcome requests to consult on specific treatment challenges with clients. Please contact us to inquire about your consultation needs.