DBT for Children

DBT for Children

Integrative Counseling is pleased to expand our DBT program to include children ages 8-12. We have been providing a full DBT program for Teens and Adults for the past three years.

DBT is not only for borderline personality disorder; it has been proven effective for chronic depression, bipolar, anxiety, substance use disorder and more. Clients who have not been successful at outpatient individual therapy can benefit greatly from our fully integrated DBT program. Our program is one of the most cost effective DBT Programs in the State of Maryland. We are able to provide the individual and family therapy piece under most commercial insurances, and we provide a team of over 10 licensed professionals for each client and their family.

A DBT Program is Very Different from a DBT Group:

In order to be effective, DBT Groups should be paired with a DBT therapist who can work with you to develop your DBT skills. Many of our newest DBT clients have tried DBT groups but have not had the success they wanted. They got a taste of how DBT works, but did not receive enough help to integrate the skills into their lives. In our program, the client gets a highly trained DBT therapist and team lead who does therapy differently than standard therapy. The DBT therapist participates in the teaching and creation of the skills classes, processes cases on a weekly basis, handles the case management, and works with the client to actually use the skills in individual session, applying the skills to their individual circumstances. Our DBT therapists act like a personal trainer for your mind: they teach you how to use the different skills to develop your mind’s control, working on repetitions while correcting and refining any “moves” that do not benefit your goals. Because they are part of weekly supervision, the whole team is with each client guiding them toward their personal goals. The classes and the therapy are in motion together, complementing each other so learning is deeper and more personally useful. Not only to the client, but also to the clients family; all together, comprehensively blended.

Our Child DBT program is very different from our Teen and Adult Programs:

In our Teen and Adult DBT Programs, skills classes are taught in groups offered twice a week for 45 minutes. We know DBT was initially done in 90 minute classes, but we found that for most folks, Teens in particular, 90 minutes was just too much. For kids ages 8-12, our classes are taught one on one, therapist to child. Sure, this takes much more staff time, but we want to help our youngest clients and their parents make the changes they need to make. In the teen and Adult DBT Programs, we hold a weekly class for parents and significant others; in our Child DBT program, the parent skills classes are also taught one on one (one therapist to one set of parents .

Let us know how we can help your clients who might need a little more help. Clients may call 410.740.8066 to schedule an initial consultation to see if our DBT Program is right for them.