Evidence Based Practices

Teen Intervene is a tested, time-efficient, evidence-based program for teenagers suspected of experiencing a mild or moderate substance use disorder, covering all drugs but with a special focus on alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use. The program is designed to include teens' parents or guardians. The Teen Intervene program incorporates the stages of change model, motivational interviewing, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. The brief intervention consists of two student and one parent/guardian session.

In the last two decades, there has been an increasing awareness of the extent to which children are exposed to traumatic experiences. Between 20% and 50% of American children are victims of violence within their families, at school, or in their communities.

The CBITS program uses a skills-building, early intervention approach and focuses on the reduction of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and behavioral problems, and to improve functioning, grades and attendance, peer and parent support, and coping skills.

Dialectic Behavioral Therapy is skills training for emotional problem solving for adolescents. DBT provides a meaningful set of skills for emotions management, relationship building and decision making skills that adolescents could acquire and apply to navigate the emotionally difficult situations and stressors that accompany the teen years.

Restorative practice is a social science that studies how to improve and repair relationships between people and communities. The purpose is to build healthy communities, increase social capitol decrease crime and antisocial behavior, repair harm and restore relationships. It ties together research in a variety of social science fields, including education, psychology, social work, criminology, sociology, organizational development and leadership.

This group counseling curriculum provides over 90 group counseling activities divided into twelve session themes:

Who Am I? Body Image, Choices, Communication, Emotions, Friendships, Relationships, Self-Esteem, Stress, Reaching Out, Tough Times, and Who I Am! During group lessons, girls are encouraged to share feelings and struggles as they openly discuss important issues in a safe and supportive environment. They are given the opportunity to feel empowered, gain self-awareness, develop coping strategies, improve problem-solving skills, understand that they are not alone, and learn to make healthy decisions.

Using evidence-based practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness, students in school-based skills groups can learn to focus on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The goal of this group is to learn problem-solving and decision-making skills that can be applied to many different situations that students face such as aggression, depressive moods & substance use.

The 11 Principles of Transformation, derived from CBT, positive psychology, mindfulness and meditation. By focusing on new beginnings, experiential exercises and meaningful activities, students will be able to start the transformative journey to wellness and well-being.

A mindfulness-based curriculum for adolescents to cultivate emotion regulation, attention and performance. Mindfulness is making inroads into classrooms, as teachers seek ways to center and focus their own attention as well as that of their distracted students. Trish Broderick describes the particular relevance of mindfulness to the teaching of adolescent students, including its potential to alleviate stress, foster motivation, engagement, and compassion—and ultimately, to improve both learning and social relationships.

The Change Companies has created 10 journals specifically for adolescents in behavioral health and substance abuse treatment programs. The Keep It Direct and Simple approach highlights core concepts appropriate for the adolescent using a nonjudgmental focus on positive strength-based strategies. Participants will not only explore the problems that brought them into treatment, but will learn the tools and skills to make meaningful, lasting change in their lives.

Strong Teens is the fun and easy way to help your students develop the social-emotional skills they need to manage their challenges and succeed in school and life. Through engaging, thought-provoking classroom activities, students learn about emotions and the social-emotional skills they'll use for the rest of their lives: managing anger, reducing stress, solving interpersonal problems, and much more.

Circle Forward is a resource guide designed to help teachers, administrators, students and parents incorporate the practice of Circles into the everyday life of the school community. This resource guide offers comprehensive step–by-step instructions for how to plan, facilitate and implement the Circle for a variety of purposes within the school environment. It describes the basic process, essential elements and a step-by-step guide for how to organize, plan, and lead Circles.