Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Skills for Families
The objective of this support group is to provide families with a better understanding of their child's experiences and to teach them skills in using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
In family group sessions, parents and relatives engage in role-plays with an actor playing the role of their child. The goal is to use the CBT skills learned during the sessions to help their child cope with their experiences.
After participating in the role-play, family members will receive feedback from the rest of the parents in the group. In this way, everyone in the group becomes engaged in helping the parent use the appropriate skills to assist their child.
Once the parents in the group have given their opinions and discussed possible options for handling the child's experiences, Dr. Landa then offers her final suggestions regarding the family members' sucess in using CBT skills to help the child cope.
The video below is a short demonstration of the types of CBT skills that are taught to family members. These videos are used to help assist the parents in seeing the skills in action. They were created in the form of "what to do" and "what not to do" so that the parent can get a better idea of what is and is not effective in helping their child cope with their distressing experiences.