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COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT)

The REACH Institute was formerly launched in July of 2007 with the purpose of improving child mental health by improving the practices of professionals, parents, and all others involved in the care of children. Founded by Peter S. Jensen, M.D., the REACH Institute identifies evidence based practices for assessment and treatment of child mental health disorders such as ADHD (formerly called ADD), teen depression, bipolar disorder and juvenile mania, anxiety disorders (phobias, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia), autism spectrum disorders (e.g., autism, PDD, and Aspergers disorder), PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and conduct and oppositional defiant disorders.

CHILD MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENTS AND TRAINING COURSES

Evidence based practices in child psychotherapy include cognitive behavioral therapy (also called by its acronym, CBT) programs for PTSD and trauma, child anxiety and depression, and disruptive disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, ADHD, and child aggression.  Our CATIE program, the Child and Adolescent Training in Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, includes a variety of child psychotherapy training courses and programs that are based on cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, behavior therapy techniques (these are all slightly different), in order to equip doctors and therapists with evidence-based treatment skills that work for children and adolescents as well as benefit their families. For those clinicians wishing to become truly expert, REACH also offers "Master Clinician" training in CBT methods, enabling learners to become highly skilled in the major forms of CBT for most child mental health, behavioral and emotional disorders.  Master Clinicians may qualify to become CBT trainers in their own right, enabling them to offer REACH psychotherapy training to other therapists in their own clinical treatment settings.  REACH uses well-tested "train the trainer" methods, coaching new Master Clinicians in how to become highly skilled child and adolescent CBT trainers and supervisors.

All REACH psychotherapy training courses, including its CBT training programs, use adult learning and education methods, as well as distance education and on-line web-based training techniques. Some online learning programs are free.  The REACH Institute's distance and online learning methods make it feasible for busy practitioners to "get up to speed" on how to deliver state of the art CBT without sacrificing great amounts of income, time away from patients and clients, and practices.  For example, REACH often uses twice monthly phone teleconferences (or videoconference) sessions with a small group of learners, with the phone conference facilitated and led by two expert CBT therapists, often the very scientists who developed and tested that particular form of cognitive behavior therapy.  In addition, online videos of CBT experts demonstrating hands-on application of these techniques speed up the learning process. These videos and video clips can be viewed anytime, anywhere that web access is available, further making distance and online learning a reality.  Also available online are videos of CBT experts showing "the right way" vs. "the wrong way" approaches for specific CBT techniques.

All cognitive behavior therapy training courses include user-friendly CBT manuals for each participant, plus worksheets, "homework" assignments, and information materials for the child and parents.  These materials are available for unlimited duplication and use by the therapists.