Develop a life worth living so that you're not just surviving; rather, you have good reasons for living.
A Comprehensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Center
OUR MISSION
Clinical Services For Clients: Path to Effective Living
Westside DBT provides Comprehensive DBT in accordance with the evidence based treatment model founded and developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan and researched through Behavioral Tech. We hope that understanding what to expect from a Comprehensive DBT program will help you be an informed consumer. To ensure that practitioners and programs who state they are providing DBT, are in fact applying the model as researched by Dr. Marsha Linehan, there are four core components that must be included:
DBT Program Information
Clinical Services For Clients: Path to Effective Living
Westside DBT provides Comprehensive DBT in accordance with the evidence based treatment model founded and developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan and researched through Behavioral Tech. We hope that understanding what to expect from a Comprehensive DBT program will help you be an informed consumer. To ensure that practitioners and programs who state they are providing DBT, are in fact applying the model as researched by Dr. Marsha Linehan, there are four core components that must be included:
DBT Skills Training Groups (weekly)
This is a 2-hour weekly skills training group that provides education, skills practice and support. A DBT skills group must have 2 leaders to be comprehensive. This is a group formed to teach skills, reinforce skills learned and provide education and information on new skills taught each week.
Individual/Family Therapy (weekly)
Individual therapy consists of one to two 50-minute session per week with a highly trained DBT therapist.
Telephone Coaching (as needed)
Clients may contact their DBT team, both their dbt individual therapist and dbt skills trainer, outside of their sessions. Coaching is encouraged to generalize the new skills learned to the “outside world”.
Consultation Team
(for DBT Therapists and DBT Skills Trainers)
The consultation team serves as an essential component for a DBT program.
Intensively Trained and or Certified DBT therapists through Behavioral Tech, meet and consult weekly with one another to strategize, consult about approaches, techniques and treatment, and ensure protocol is being followed as was developed. Anyone providing comprehensive DBT must have a DBT consult team
For more information, please go to www.behavioraltech.org
OUR SERVICES
Individual Therapy
Through a combination of dialectical, validation, and problem-solving strategies, individual therapy helps clients to reduce maladaptive, mood-dependent behaviors and replace them with more skillful responses.
Individual therapy is at the center of DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy). Individual sessions are where you and your therapist identify appropriate “targets”, behaviors/thoughts/feelings that you would like to increase and or decrease and than work together towards obtaining your goals.
Read More
SKILLS TRAINING
A skills training group is unlike traditional group psychotherapy and is an essential component in enhancing a client's capabilities to develop and refine behavioral skills to regulate emotions . Skills training group combines teaching clients new behaviors, strengthening skills taught to specifically utilize and build into one's own day to day life, and model as well as rehearse the generalization of these skills to similar and different situations. Learning new skills requires practice in and out of the group. With a practice of non-judgmental stance, present moment awareness (mindfulness), acceptance and change, clients will learn the four emphasized sets of DBT skills: Mindful, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and distress tolerance, as well as relapse prevention.
Skills Coaching
Skills coaching is designed to promote skills use where it matters most — in the real world. Coaching can be especially helpful to clients when they find themselves in difficult situations and need assistance in putting the skills to work.
Adolescent Programs
Historically, psychologists have said that adolescence is a tumultuous time. Thanks to neuropsychiatry and research, we now know that the adolescent brain undergoes extensive changes and growth from the onset of puberty until about age twenty-five. Some children and teens are more biologically prone to emotional sensitivity. This means they experience their emotions more intensely, more frequently and for longer periods of time than many of their peers. Research suggests DBT can be effective in treating adolescents.
Read More
How this works at Westside DBT
Adolescents in our DBT program will attend individual therapy sessions weekly and are asked to actively attend weekly group skills training. Group leaders will teach the 5 modules of DBT in skills training group, one at a time: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance and "Walking the Middle Path".
DBT groups are similar to taking a class, there are two skills "trainers"/therapists and often have 4-6 clients in the room, each adolescent is provided with a notebook and participation in listening, taking notes and here and now skill based discussion is modeled and expected.
Skills training is provided in both individual and group sessions. Group is designed to teach clients the skills they need to decrease impulsive behaviors and increase emotion regulation in a safe non-judmental environment, and individual therapy sessions are designed to help the clients further apply these skills in their day-to-day life, as well as become aware of what is getting in their way of managing their emotions, relationships and overall quality of life. "Coaching calls" to their individual and group therapist in between sessions is encouraged as a way to generalize skills while they are at home and or school.
The involvement of parents and guardians when working with adolescents is very important. When parents learn the skills their children/teens are learning, parents can potentially model these skills at home, in the day to day life experiences and also use the skills to facilitate their own coping. Research shows family involvement can also be an important aspect of treatment compliance. Ideally in a DBT adolescent program and here at WESTSIDE DBT, therapists will offer skills training groups for family members, either in conjunction with the adolescent’s skills training, separately or some combination of both. In addition, individual family training can be implemented as needed, as can between-session phone coaching for the parents as well as the adolescent. At the very least, support from family members is crucial to DBT’s effectiveness with adolescents.
Family and Friends Skills Group
These groups are designed to help family members and friends facilitate the progress of their family member/friend in the program. They will learn basic DBT ideas and skills that the clients are learning in the program. It is very important the friends, family and significant others are ready, willing and able to help in this process, for the best possible outcome. In addition, they will be able to explore ways to provide an environment for clients that balances validation and problem solving.
DBT Skills Only Group
This is for individuals that want to learn the DBT skills in a group setting. The DBT modules such as emotional regulation, mindfulness and distress tolerance, will be taught in a didactic format and participants will be able to practice these skills in the group. Please note, participants must have a DBT-informed clinician working with them individually on a weekly basis.
DBT-C
These "super-sensor" kids need "super" parents!
DBT-C is a treatment program that focuses on skill development for parents of Children (typically under age 12) who struggle with emotional sensitivity and reactivity. DBT-C works on changing the environment to meet the needs of the child and helping parents become more effective.
DBT-C contains the theoretical model, principles, and therapeutic strategies of standard DBT,and incorporates almost all of the adult DBT skills and didactics into the curriculum. However, the presentation and packaging of the information are considerably different to accommodate for the developmental and cognitive levels of pre-adolescent children.
Scholarships
Westside DBT offers partial and/or full scholarships to a client who would like to receive DBT services. This includes group and individual treatment as well as phone coaching. Scholarships are granted through a team evaluation based on availability and needs.
Couples Program
Using DBT to treat the high conflict couple can be very effective in helping the couple adapt strategies, techniques and skills in order to better manage emotions that flare up in your relationship. Mindfulness,
Interpersonal Effectiveness and Distress Tolerance are skills that the couple will learn how to use in order to de-escalate and manage “heated” situations before they have a chance to explode into destructive fights.
Through a nonjudgmental approach the couple will be able to identify their strengths, values and goals.
Other approaches will also help you express your fears, longings, and vulnerabilities to your partner and validate his or her experiences in return. You'll discover ways to manage problems with negotiation, not conflict, and to find true acceptance and closeness with the person you love the most.
“The High Conflict Couple: A dialectical behavior therapy guide to finding peace, intimacy, and validation.” Alan Fruzetti