Individual psychotherapy | Child and Adolescent Psychiatry | Family therapy and Parent Skills Training | Group therapy | DBT program | Parallel Parent DBT Skills Training Group |Assessment | Telepsychiatry Program

Individual psychotherapy

CAMP psychiatrists and psychologists rely heavily on empirically-supported treatments. We specialize in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Behavioral Activation (BA) for depression and anxiety, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for emotion dysregulation and self-harm, and Family Focused Therapy (FFT) for bipolar disorder. We often ask parents to meet with a doctoral-level clinician along with their child for the initial session, during which the clinician gathers information about the child and family to acquire a better understanding of the presenting problems, to establish treatment goals, and to orient the family to therapy. Commitment to therapy is essential to successful treatment. Research studies tell us that patients who regularly keep their appointments and complete therapy homework outside of sessions make the most progress in achieving their treatment goals.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Our board-certified child psychiatrists conduct thorough and thoughtful evaluations that incorporate information provided by families, schools, and other health care providers to determine if medication is necessary in treating your child’s presenting problems. Our psychiatrists make treatment decisions based on the child’s diagnostic picture, current functioning, and family history. All treatment providers at CAMP use an interdisciplinary approach, and our staff meets weekly to discuss cases and ensure that everyone treating the child (e.g., psychologists, psychiatrists) follows the established treatment plan effectively. Our psychiatrists focus on evidence-based treatments involving psychosocial interventions along with medication management. CAMP psychiatrists are skilled in the management of common childhood psychiatric illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorders. CAMP psychiatrists require regular medication monitoring (i.e., regular appointments), the frequency of which is determined based on the symptoms and medication profile. Medical and laboratory work-ups also may be indicated depending on the type of medications prescribed.

Family therapy and Parent Skills Training

Our clinicians provide family therapy and parent skills training. In family therapy, the treatment is organized around the family as a unit, and interactions among family members are the targets of treatment. Most often families seek treatment in the midst of experiencing one or more crises, and they often report feeling “stuck in a rut”. Developmental milestones, such as having a child start high school, often trigger family difficulties. Many families have difficulties around times of divorce, separation, or blending of new family members such as stepchildren. Together, the family and clinician determine treatment goals and the family is oriented to treatment. Family members may also pursue individual therapy along with family therapy.

Our clinicians also provide parent skills training, which is conducted with parents only. These sessions are designed to help parents with behavioral strategies such as limit setting, contingency management, and improved communication skills. We also offer parent skills training in group format as part of our DBT program. For more information, click here.

Group therapy

DBT program: CAMP offers a comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program for adolescents and young adults. The program is led by a nationally certified DBT trainer (Dr. Ritschel). DBT was designed for individuals who have difficulty regulating their emotions and who turn to extreme coping mechanisms such as self-harm (cutting, burning), extreme anger outbursts, or eating disordered behavior to manage their emotions. These individuals also may struggle with suicidal thinking and may have made suicide attempts in the past. DBT helps patients learn more effective ways to cope with intense negative emotions. DBT at CAMP includes individual therapy and group therapy (skills training). All patients in the DBT program must participate in individual therapy with a DBT therapist, and all patients are asked to commit to six months of therapy. Potential participants must first attend a pre-treatment orientation and commitment session to determine goodness of fit for the program.

Participants attend individual and group therapy once weekly. Group sessions are designed to teach patients the skills they need, and individual therapy sessions are designed to help patients apply these skills in their day-to-day lives. Consistent with the DBT model of treatment, patients are also allowed to make “coaching calls” to their therapists in between sessions to get help with skills while they are at home or school. DBT groups are like classes, and participants are expected to listen, take notes, and participate in exercises and discussions. Groups are 90 minutes long. We currently offer a group for adolescents (ages 14-18) and young adults (ages 19-25). We will soon begin offering a parallel parent training group for parents of teens in the program, and we will be launching a multi-family skills training group in the fall of 2010. We require six months of treatment to allow sufficient time for us to teach the following sets of skills:

1. Core Mindfulness skills, which help individuals control and regulate their attention and learn to be more “present” in their daily life.
2. Interpersonal Effectiveness skills, which help individuals to negotiate relationships with others by asking for what they want and need or by saying no to requests in an effective manner.
3. Emotion Regulation skills, which help individuals to recognize and validate their own emotions as well as teach them to have less extreme mood swings.
4. Distress Tolerance skills, which help individuals tolerate stressful situations and make healthier choices when under duress.
5. Middle Path skills (adolescent and parent groups only), which help individuals to see both sides of a situation, think in less extreme ways, and validate themselves and others.

Parallel Parent DBT Skills Training Group:

CAMP will soon offer a DBT skills training group for parents of teens in the DBT program. This group will meet at the same time as the adolescent DBT group (every Tuesday from 5:15-6:45 pm). Parents will learn the same skills as their adolescents, including core mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and middle path skills. The benefit of having parents participate in the skills training mode is that it allows them to learn skills simultaneously with the adolescent. In this way, parents acquire skills that will help them interact more affectively with their adolescent. Parents learn how to validate one another and their teen, communicate more effectively by applying interpersonal effectiveness skills, and resolve common parent-adolescent dilemmas using the “walking the middle path” skills. Parents also learn to serve as coaches for their adolescents in applying DBT skills, especially during times of crisis.

Assessment

CAMP offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary clinical evaluations for children and adolescents ages 6 - 18, including:

• Diagnostic Evaluations: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, adjustment difficulties, etc.
• Intelligence Testing:  intellectual ability, cognitive strengths and weaknesses
• Learning/Academic Assessment:  learning disorders, academic strengths and weaknesses, academic planning
• Integrated Written Report:  comprehensive written evaluation of functioning and related recommendations for your records or to share with school personnel, therapist, pediatrician, etc.

Psychological testing with reliable and valid instruments can provide a “snap shot” of your child’s functioning across multiple domains of their life (i.e., social, emotional, academic). Our goal is to provide a personalized profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses and individually tailored recommendations for intervention, if necessary. We would be happy to sit down with you and answer your questions about psychological testing and suggest the most appropriate evaluation for your individual needs.

 

Telepsychiatry Program

CAMP, together with the Georgia Partnership for Telehealth, has launced an innovative program of providing psychiatric consultations via videoconferencing to children and adolescents in rural Georgia. This unique two-session program allows children and their families in remote, underserved, or far-away locations to receive an excellent psychiatric consultation and evalutation, complete with treatment recommendations. Appointments can be made by contacting Jackie at (404) 727-3803 or jclarso@emory.edu. Cost available upon request.