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.

DBT Graduate Group

The Cadence DBT Graduate Group is open to adolescents who have completed DBT skills training and who are not currently engaging in high-risk behaviors. This is a 12 week peer-led group facilitated by a DBT therapist. Each group is 90 minutes.