ADOLESCENT DBT TREATMENT PROGRAM
Our adolescent DBT treatment program is designed for individuals aged 13 to 18 and their immediate caregivers. The program combines mindfulness, behavioural psychology, and dialectics in a practical manner that gives clients and their families the skills they need to effectively manage their concerns in their individual lives and in the family setting.
Please note we offer DBT as a full program as informed by research. We cannot ethically deliver any deviation of the full program.
Program Components
Assessment and Orientation
Comprehensive assessment of
Your concerns & goals
Full orientation to the program
Individual Therapy
Weekly on average for one year
Focuses on skill implementation
Flexible scheduling
Multi-Family Skills Training
25 Week Skills Training
Focuses of skill acquisition
Group and individual formats
Skills Coaching
After hours phone coaching in DBT Skills
Focuses on skill generalization
Parent Coaching
Skills coaching for parents
Helping the parents to help their youths
Therapist Consultations
Quality assurance for clients
Therapy for the therapists
Program Format
All families at our clinic begin with a 90-minute intake and orientation session. Following the intake, adolescents begin weekly individual therapy sessions. After approximately 4 to 6 weeks of individual sessions, the program includes two main components that run in parallel: weekly individual therapy and a 25-week multi-family skills training group that meets for two hours each week. Adolescents also have access to 24 hour phone coaching on an as-needed basis to support them between sessions. Parents will be assigned their own parent coach who is accessible on an as-needed basis. While families engage in these components, DBT therapists participate in a weekly consultation team to maintain adherence to the model. Typically around 12 months, adolescents will have developed the skills and stability needed to participate in their life worth living, and graduate from the program.
