Pretreatment Procedure

For the DBT- Adult Program

Call to ask for an appointment. As difficult as it may be, it is really important to contact us personally in order to briefly discuss your concerns. Please note that appointments cannot be given if the caller is not the individual seeking treatment.
The Team member who receives your call will inform the DBT Consultation Group anonymously about your interest in the program. Appointments with individual therapists are given on the basis of availability. A therapist from our team who is able to take on new appointments will contact you in order to discuss his/her availability and set the date of your session.
The first thing you need to complete with your therapist is an assessment procedure. Through this procedure, the therapist aims to better understand your difficulties and determine whether the DBT program is the right choice for you.
The next step into the DBT journey, is for you to understand the different components of this program. There are three components of comprehensive DBT: Skills training group, individual therapy, and DBT phone coaching. The therapist will ensure your understanding about what can be expected from the program, and what is expected from you.
After a clear understanding of all the DBT components, you provide informed consent and make a commitment to attend the entire course. You commit to a weekly individual session, a weekly participation in a DBT skills group, and phone consultation with your therapist when needed. The only way for you to leave the program is if you miss four consecutive sessions, either in individual or group.
You are expected to attend all scheduled appointments in individual therapy, and work as hard as possible on target behaviors and skills on a daily basis. The skills training aims to help enhance client’s capabilities to cope with a situation or attempt to solve a problem.

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For the DBT-Adolescents Program

For adolescent clients, the parents or a guardian need to contact the DBT team in order to give their informed consent for their child’s participation.
The Team member who receives the call will inform the DBT Consultation Group anonymously about your interest in the program. The available therapist will contact the parents/guardians in order to discuss their availability and set an appointment.
Adolescents and parents meet separately with the therapist for the assessment procedure and to be informed about the structure of the program.
1. An initial meeting with the parents/guardian aims to give a better understanding of the adolescent’s difficulties and developmental history.
2. The assessment is completed after the therapist meets with the adolescent in order to understand the way adolescents cope with extreme emotional intensity.
The next step into the DBT journey, is for the parents/guardians and the adolescent to understand the different components and commit to attend the entire program.