Many adolescents find themselves struggling with behaviors and feelings that interfere with their sense of well-being and capacity for emotional, social and intellectual development. Sometimes it’s hard to sort out what is typical teen behavior from worrisome teen behavior. All of our providers have specialized skills and training in working with this critical time in one’s life span. Through different approaches and techniques, we will partner with you, the parent or caregiver, to help you and your teen understand and resolve problems, modify behavior and make positive change in your lives.
We utilize different well-regarded and evidenced-based psychotherapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), insight-oriented therapies, families therapies, parent consultation, behavioral modification systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mentalization (MBT-A), Mindfulness-based, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) techniques. We also always provide regular parent meetings in order to ensure we are working together collaboratively, with a parent/therapist team approach.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a highly effective group of evidenced-based treatments that places an emphasis on helping adolescents learn to be their own therapists. Through exercises in the session, as well as “homework” exercises outside of sessions, adolescents are taught to develop coping skills, whereby they can learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions and behavior. CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include learning to calm the mind, relax the body, and recognize distortions in thinking that are creating problems. Adolescents also develop problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations and learn to develop a greater sense of confidence in their own abilities.
What is Dialetical Behavior Therapy?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) focuses on teaching coping skills to reduce emotional extremes and problematic thought and behavioral patterns. Our goal is to help adolescents develop flexible thinking and gain more control over their feelings and behaviors. DBT also helps adolescents learn how to make and keep appropriate friendships and relationships with other people. Some people may be prone to react in a more intense manner toward certain emotional situations, primarily within close relationships. Some may experience extreme swings in their emotions, see the world in black-and-white, and seem to always be jumping from one crisis to another. Because few people understand such reactions, they may have unhealthy methods for coping with these sudden, intense surges of emotion. DBT is a method for teaching skills that will help adolescents develop more emotional equilibrium in themselves and improve their relationships with others. A number of our therapists are trained to provide therapy that incorporates DBT concepts, and we provide DBT Skills Groups for adolescents to help them learn and practice skills.
We do NOT provide full, manualized DBT programs at Weaver and Associates, but partner with other quality programs in the area that do, and are happy to make recommendations.
What is Mentalization?
Mentalization Based Therapy for Adolescents (MBT-A) is an evidenced-based, relational therapy that has proven effective in improving mood, outlook and functioning. Mentalization helps adolescents see themselves more clearly and improve their relationships with others. It is a way for people to learn to better “understand misunderstandings,” both with themselves, and with other important people in their lives.
Originally designed to treat Borderline Personality Disorder in adults, newer research has expanded this treatment model for both adults and adolescents (MBT-A) who are struggling with more everyday problems. Mentalization can be helpful for treating major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, and other personality disorders.
We are proud that virtually all our therapists have intensive specialized training in Mentalization, which is rare for therapists in the United States. We also continue to engage in regular weekly consultation with a specialist from the Anna Freud Centre in London to further develop our skills.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique empirically based psychological intervention that uses a mix of acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. ACT especially illuminates the ways that language entangles adolescents into futile attempts to wage war against their own inner lives. Through metaphors and experiential exercises clients learn how to make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations that have been feared and avoided. Adolescents gain the skills to better understand and accept these events, develop greater clarity about personal values, and find a new ease as they make desired changes in their behavior and lives.
What is Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy?
Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) is the “gold standard” of treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in adolescents. A number of our therapists are highly trained in this specialized treatment. Parents and adolescents initially hear the word “exposure” and are worried treatment could be scary, but ERP allows adolescents to manage their fears, go at their own pace and feel successful right from the start. The “Response Prevention” part of ERP helps adolescents learn to comfortably control compulsions, avoidance and/or escape behaviors. Once adolescents have better control over their compulsions, their obsessive thinking naturally comes into balance.
What is SPACE?
SPACE stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. It was developed at the Yale Child Study Center and is a parent-based treatment program for children and adolescents with anxiety, OCD, and related problems. Unlike most therapy sessions, the child does not attend the treatment sessions. The SPACE therapist works directly with the Parents and Caregivers to learn the skills and tools necessary to help their child overcome anxiety, OCD or other related problems.
Interested in Group Therapy for your Adolescent?
Weaver and Associates offers a group therapy option for young people, DBT Skills Group - Managing Emotions. This skills course is designed to help young people achieve balance by learning to experience emotions in less extreme ways, and with less behavioral reactivity. The group will learn skills that can help develop a life that revolves more around purpose than crisis, and with connection more than drama in relationships. The group runs for 20 weeks and is divided into five skills: Mindfulness, Emotional Regulation, Distress Tolerance, Middle Path, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. A new series of skills are taught every four weeks, and group members may join at the beginning of any module, provided there is space. Group members are expected to also attend individual therapy with a provider familiar with DBT skills, to provide additional support as they learn new coping strategies.
Developed by Marsha Linehan, DBT is has been proven to be an effective, evidence-based therapy and is specifically designed for patients who struggle with intense, hard-to-manage emotions.
Goals and outcomes of therapy:
- Understand what emotions are, how they function, and how to experience them in a way that is not overwhelming
- Tolerate emotional pain without resorting to self-harm or self- destructive behaviors
- Use “mindfulness” techniques to live more fully in the present moment
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Increase emotional and behavioral self-regulation
- Improve problem-solving and conflict resolution skills
- Evaluate and enhance relationships
- Finding the calm middle ground between the extremes of rigidity and chaos