​The main goal of the “CBT How to Empower Adolescents & Young Adults” counseling program is to award young people the ability to live a productive and fulfilling lifestyle. The program is administered by master level licensed clinicians who have experience working with adolescents. Family members are encouraged to participate. The program may be administered to couples, groups and individuals. It addresses specific areas of human functioning necessary for an individual’s sense of wellbeing. Participants become empowered, take responsibility for their actions, and develop a powerful sense of self. It’s a dynamic and assertive approach to therapy that utilizes the generally accepted, standardized techniques and methods proven over time by utilizing a best practice model of “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.” CBT is a form of psychotherapy that treats problems and boosts happiness by modifying dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and thoughts.  

 

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How the “CBT How to Empower Adolescence and Young Adults” program works:  

 

An adolescent or young adult client presents for mental health counseling. Many of these clients are court ordered and not interested in the therapeutic process. They are called the “resistive client.” Obtaining the necessary information relevant for treatment can be a daunting task, especially from the adolescent who sees the therapist as another adult interfering in their life. Trust is something the therapist must earn. For this to happen the therapist must be trained and skilled to work with this specialized population. The first goal of the program is to create a non-judgmental environment of acceptance in order to build a trusting therapeutic relationship between counselor and client.  

 

The program is designed as a hands-on approach with built in processes designed to be entertaining and productive. This is done by the demonstration of processes intended to summon the client into the therapeutic arena. When the client feels comfortable and secure, they are ready to identify and discuss the problematic areas of their lives. A redeeming quality of the program is the client then feels empowered because they feel therapy was a choice, and by utilization of this process they learn skills needed to facilitate human development and adjustment throughout the human life span.  

 

Clients that are not resistive to the counseling process are encouraged to work on their goals of therapy by the CBT process without the encouragement of the program modules. Sometimes a client works on only the modules identified by the counselor and client as what’s needed for specific goal attainment. Adjudicated youth, or adolescents with serious mental health and problematic issues, who refuse to engage in the therapeutic process may still benefit from this model for they are “spoon-fed” the tools of the program and may choose to empower themselves later in life.  

 

The program works best with individual client sessions, individual parental sessions and family sessions to bring them together. During the parental session the client’s problematic behaviors are discussed and their parenting skills are assessed. Parental management deficiencies are addressed, and the parent is educated about best practice discipline techniques for the adolescent. The therapist allows for the parent to process thoughts and feelings. The therapist may challenge any dysfunctional thought processes and demonstrate how to replace them with healthier ones.  

 

During an individual session for the “resistive client” problematic thoughts and behaviors are identified, and the therapist demonstrates how to replace them with healthy thoughts and responses. For example; a client presents with a referral for truancy but refuses to discuss any reason for the behavior. The therapist would construct the treatment plan with the immediate objective of completion of Module #5, Emotional Control, with an intermediate goal of a successful score on the program pre/posttest. As the client and therapist work through the activities, processes, and exercises the client learns about the fear response and discovers she has an irrational fear about going to school. The therapist assists the client in identifying concrete ways to alter the harmful thinking patterns responsible for the overwhelming fear. The therapist then guides the client in the construction of healthy thoughts to replace the irrational ones. The client has not only processed her hurtful and fearful feelings but has developed a skill that yields to self-confidence and an improved sense of self-worth. Once mastered the client will be able to utilize these skills throughout her life. The long-term goal and/or outcome of this intervention would be improved school attendance. This illustrates the empowering component of the program.