Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Therapy

Community Reach Center offers the Intensive Adolescent Outpatient Program for adolescents with high-risk behaviors like suicidal thinking/self-harm, substance use, truancy, fighting/assaults, conflict at home and involvement with courts. This form of therapy, called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), has been clinically tested for its effectiveness with both adolescents and adults.

Is this program right for your adolescent?

This program is designed for both male and female adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 who:

• Become easily overwhelmed and do not know how to calm themselves
• Feel suicidal or have thoughts of hurting themselves
• Often feel “out of control” and have a difficult time slowing themselves down
• Experience intense conflicts in their relationships with friends and family
• Feel empty and bored much of the time
• Experience sudden and strong mood swings
• Have trouble controlling their anger and have frequent outbursts or physical fights
• Have an inability to regulate their emotions

What is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy?

DBT is a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach that emphasizes the development of five skill sets:

•  Mindfulness – a blend of contemplative practices to access a core of inner calm and peacefulness.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness – being able to appropriately ask for what you need, set good personal limits with others, be the kind of friend others can count on.
• Emotion Regulation – calmer moods, less intense reactions to situations, feel less irritable, overwhelmed and stressed.
• Distress Tolerance – being able to skillfully manage intense feelings or events.
• Walking the Middle Path – better family relationships, less “all or nothing” thinking and acting.

What is the time commitment for this program?

This 16-week program involves both adolescent and parent/guardian participation for best results. All sessions are scheduled in the late afternoon/early evening hours. 

Teens:   Adolescents attend a two-hour skills group once a week and individual therapy once a week.

Parents/Guardians: Parents participate in the initial evaluation and receive a program orientation. Because adolescents consistently make more effective use of treatment if their parents learn the same skills as they are learning, parents, guardians and family members are encouraged to attend skills training groups offered once a month. Family meetings and telephone conferencing further support families in practicing new skill sets and staff is available for further coaching.

For additional skills reinforcement, adolescents are welcome to participate in a weekly “graduate group” after graduation from the program.

Enrollment and Additional Information:

New participants are accepted every four weeks.

The program accepts Medicaid, private insurance and self-pay.

For further information, including enrollment procedures, and the dates, times and locations for the current programs, please contact Rob Peterson, MA, LPC, NCC, CACIII,  at 303-853-3777 or R.Peterson@CommunityReachCenter.org.

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