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The Child Mind Institute’s mood service provides social-emotional support to students in grades 6-12 struggling with emotion regulation, decision-making, and relationship management. The treatment is a modified Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) program that helps students develop skills to more effectively regulate their emotions, solve problems, and enhance their lives. This treatment consists of 11 group sessions and 2 individual sessions. The program takes place at the school, during the school day. There may be 4-6 students per group, and groups are led by a Child Mind Institute clinician.

Who is eligible for this program?

This group is appropriate for teenagers who experience significant difficulty managing their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Students who are highly emotional and reactive often have trouble with academic and social functioning and managing screen time and substances. Some signs that a student may benefit from participating include:

  • Being overwhelmed by big feelings such as anxiety, sadness, anger
  • Frequent mood swings (which may include outbursts)
  • Poor coping skills

Mood Curriculum

The group will be led by a clinician from the Child Mind Institute. The group meets once a week for about 3 months. This program is adapted from DBT Skills in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT STEPS-A), an evidence-based group program targeting emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. The group curriculum covers the following topics:

Session 1: Orientation
Session 2: Wise Mind
Session 3: Mindfulness How-to Guide
Session 4: Introduction to Crisis Survival Skills and ACCEPTS
Session 5: Self-Soothe
Session 6: TIPP for Managing Extreme Emotions
Session 7: Understanding and Describing Emotions
Session 8: Check the Facts and Opposite Action
Session 9: Accumulating Positive Experiences
Session 10: Build Mastery, Cope Ahead, PLEASE Skills
Session 11: Jeopardy Review

Request Service

Please follow these steps to help streamline the process to bring our mood treatment group to your school:

  1. Establish a consistent and responsive point of contact to coordinate the application process, scheduling, logistics, data collection, and caregiver communication.
  2. Send an email to SchoolandCommunity@childmind.org to schedule a partnership meeting.
  3. Once our team confirms partnership, swiftly provide appropriate student referrals and speak with legal guardians to obtain verbal consent.
  4. Provide a consistent, confidential time and meeting space for weekly student groups (1 hour at a designated time each week).