Skills Groups

DBT Multi-Family Skills Group – Adolescents and Parents

The DBT Multi-Family Skills Groups are part of a comprehensive DBT program where the adolescent and the parents participate in two-hour weekly groups. Cadence is currently running seven weeknight groups. The Skills Groups run on a 26 week cycle where five skill areas are taught. These areas are:

• Mindfulness – Increase awareness to the present moment and reduce judgments.
• Middle Path – Increase skills to manage adolescent-parent conflicts and be effective in creating behavior change.
• Emotion Regulation – Identify and regulate emotions without becoming more emotionally vulnerable.
• Distress Tolerance – Tolerate stressful moment without acting impulsively and creating more problems.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness – Learn to skillfully get what we want while maintaining relationships and self-respect in the process.

In the case of an outsider provider, Cadence requires families to attend a free 45 minute information session with one of our DBT therapists. Each adolescent enrolled in the group must be supported with individual therapy by Cadence, or an outside provider.