DBT for Adolescents in Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo Child and Family Counseling offers a comprehensive out-patient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program for adolescents ages 12 to 17 and their parents. DBT helps teenagers who experience significant trouble managing their emotions, thoughts and behaviors. This program is geared towards adolescents in grades 7th through 12th. As such, clients must be attending school full-time. The DBT Program at Kalamazoo Child and Family Counseling is not appropriate for individuals with a psychotic spectrum diagnosis.
Components of Adolescent DBT
1) Weekly individual DBT sessions
- Use behavior analysis to identify and better understand the adolescent’s problem behaviors
- Identify effective coping skills for managing intense emotions and impulsive behaviors
- Problem solve difficulties using new skills or obstacles to treatment adherence
- Provide emotional support
2) Weekly Multifamily Skills Group
Adolescents and their parents attend a weekly DBT skills group where they will learn skills to improve emotion regulation and decrease problem behaviors. This group covers the following skills training modules:
- Mindfulness
- Emotion regulation
- Distress tolerance
- Interpersonal effectiveness
- Walking the middle path
Mastery of the skills may require repetition of the cycle. For this reason, families will have the opportunity to continue skills training at the conclusion of the 18-week cycle to repeat the five skills training modules.
3) Phone Coaching
Adolescents are able to contact a DBT therapist 7 days a week by phone for coaching in skills application. This phone coaching is intended to help in the generalization of skills. Phone coaching is not intended for crisis intervention.
4) Consultation to Schools and other Health Professionals
Individual therapists will work closely with schools, psychiatrists, and other physicians to ensure coordination of services.
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a multi-component treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan to treat problems in emotion regulation. It balances the use of change techniques from cognitive-behavior therapy with acceptance strategies. It is designed to address skill deficits in affect regulation, impulse control, assertiveness, and distress tolerance. In adolescents, these issues commonly present as:
- Self-injurious behaviors
- Impulsive/disruptive behaviors
- School refusal/truancy
- Anger management difficulties
- Persistent peer conflict
- Mood swings
- Suicidality