David M. Pratt – CBT for Youth Depression: Bring Hope and Healing to Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with an Evidence-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach

Outline

Get Client Buy-In: Engagement and Motivational Enhancement Strategies

• Build a therapeutic alliance with young people
• Collaborative evaluation, treatment planning and case conceptualization
• Identify and build upon strengths
• Motivational counseling with youth
• Identify and work towards goals

The CBT Paradigm: Making it Simple to Understand and Use

• Modify cognitive distortions and build social confidence
• Self-Monitoring: feelings, behaviors and thoughts
• Behavioral activation: get active again
• Cognitive restructuring: learn to be a good “thought detective”
• The art of “Socratic Questioning”
• Problem solving: overcome “learned helplessness”
• Social skills training: build social competence and confidence
• Effective use of CBT homework assignments
• On-office therapeutic structured activities
• Learning CBT skills via hypothetical situations

Advanced CBT Techniques: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Mindful meditation practices for youth: relax your mind
• Cognitive processing therapy
• Decipher and manage “ambiguous situations”
• Collaborative empiricism: conducting real-life experiments
• Exposure therapy for behavioral activation and social skill development
• ”Acceptance & Commitment Therapy”: know and be yourself
• Coping plans for stressful situations

Parent Involvement Strategies: Build a Therapeutic Alliance with Families

• Don’t jeopardize your relationship with the client
• Involve parents in:
  • Initial evaluation
  • Treatment planning
  • Case conceptualization
  • Treatment sessions
  • Homework assignments
• Enhance family communication and problem solving skills
• ”Win-Win” solutions for parents and teens

How to Handle Crisis Situations: Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention

• Conduct a behavioral chain analysis
• Self-harm trigger situations
• Validate reasons for self-harm and suicide
• Use distress tolerance and “Third Wave” CBT skills to manage a crisis
• Coping cards for crisis situations
• Develop a CBT skills based suicide prevention safety plan