You want to see your teenager be successful and live a healthy life, but they won’t let you help them.
Sometimes you wonder, “Am I enabling their poor behavior, or am I pushing them too hard?”
Often, it feels like you’re not doing a good job parenting your child.
Your child is not struggling, but you want to be proactive in creating a healthy family dynamic through the normal struggles of adolescents.
Our 8-week parenting class is for parents of teens (or pre-teens) who struggle with emotional dysregulation and behavior issues. Parents with troubled teens benefit from learning DBT skills to help their children. But, you don’t have to have a child with mental illness to benefit from our DBT parenting classes. Even parents without troubled kids will find these skills helpful for creating a healthy home life for their family.
How Do I Know if this Parenting Class is Right for Me?
- You want to learn how to better meet your child’s emotional needs.
- You want to improve communication with your teenager.
- Your child is already in DBT treatment* and you want to speak their language.
- You don’t know what’s happening during your child’s therapy sessions due to confidentiality. But, you want to understand what they’re learning.
- Family therapy or individual therapy is not a good fit for your needs.
- You’re looking to connect with other parents who are having similar struggles with their children.
- You simply want to be a better parent.
** Your child does not have to be in DBT treatment for you to benefit from our parenting workshop. In fact, they don’t even need to have major behavior issues. You’ll find that our parenting classes are appropriate for any parent who wants to be proactive in learning new parenting skills to improve their relationship with their child. This is really useful prevention for any family, but especially families already in mental health treatment of any sort!
Join Our Online DBT Parenting Classes ANYTIME
We’re thrilled to announce that MCCC’s sister company, TheraCourses, has developed this previously live workshop into an online course that you can sign up for anytime. This asynchronous learning option allows you to participate on your own time!
Available as Full 8-week Course OR as Individual Modules
We recommend parents take the full 8-week course: Translating Teens: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Emotions and Behaviors. This is the entire curriculum! The skills build upon one another and to have a full parenting tool box, this is the best option!
Cost: $800* for the full 8-week live workshop Now available for only $400 online!
If you would prefer to enroll in any of the modules individually, that is now an option as well. You can find ALL of the modules for individual sale by clicking here or reviewing the curriculum below
Parenting Class Lesson Plan
Module 1. Understanding My Child
Explore the basic concepts needed to help you understand and balance emotions and behavior. We will explore the Biosocial Theory, which explains how nature and nurture impact one another, and the Wave Model of Emotions. By the end of this module you’ll have a sense of WHAT tools to try and WHEN during the waves of emotions within your family. HOW and WHY to use each of those tools are taught in modules 2-8.
Module 2. Mindful Parenting
Mindful Parenting, integrates practices of mindfulness into daily acts of parenting. You will learn the States of Mind and how to identify each of them in yourself and in your child. You may see yourself in the common dynamic when two caregivers hold down opposite states (emotion vs logic), one when one caregiver oscillates between the two. Then you will learn how to get to “Wise Mind”, a synthesis of both. This is where the most balanced and healthy parenting decisions come from, and what children ultimately need from each of their caregivers!
Module 3. Navigating Your Own Waves
Navigating Your Own Waves, puts you, the parent, at the forefront! You cannot navigate the emotion waves of your family until you learn to ride your own. You will learn the skills called STOP and TIPP and Self Soothe, all of which YOU should use during moments when either/both you and/or your child are in high-intensity emotions. You’ll wrap up the module with tips for creating your very own self-soothe kit.
We will look at how your home environment can help or hurt your kids (recommended with Lessons 1 and 5).
Module 4. Navigating Your Child’s Waves
Explores three common thinking-error patterns that occur when parents witness their kids in intense emotion. Awareness of these patterns, and the actions that come from them, will unveil ways despite all best intentions, you may inadvertently be making things worse in the long run. Leaving this module, you will be primed to correct these thought-myths and respond more effectively to your kids. While this lesson does stand alone, we strongly recommend it in conjunction with module 5, which elaborates on how to respond effectively when your kid is having big emotions and/or behaviors. You can bundle modules 4&5 by clicking here.
Module 5. Establishing Connection
Establishing Connection, teaches the skills of validation. What research considers the most important skills of parenting, these tools help build a strong relationship between you and your child not just during intense emotional moments, but always! At the end of this module, you’ll have learned and practiced the 6 components of validation and be ready to acknowledge your kids’ feelings even when you disagree with their behaviors.
While this lesson does stand alone, we strongly recommend it in conjunction with module 4 as a prerequisite to this lesson.You can bundle modules 4&5 by clicking here.
Module 6. Acceptance and Change
Acceptance and Change, teaches the concepts of both radical acceptance and behavioral modification strategies. These tools help you reach the fundamental balance of accepting what you cannot change and influencing the things you can change. For any parent wanting to know how to create a more effective behavior plan at home, this lesson is for you!
While this lesson does stand alone, we strongly recommend it in conjunction with Module 7, which elaborates on how to implement the behavioral plans created here. You can bundle modules 6&7 by clicking here.
Module 7. Implementing Change
Implementing Change dives into the acronym DEARMAN, the most praised skill from parent alumni of this course. This skill teaches you how to apply all of the behavioral strategies learned in module 6. You’ll leave this module with examples of using DEARMAN to ask for change, to orient your kids to new expectations, and/or apply consequences from unmet expectations.
While this lesson does stand alone, we strongly recommend it in conjunction with Module 6 as a prerequisite to this lesson.You can bundle modules 6&7 by clicking here.
Module 8. The Art of Parenting
The Art of Parenting, is the culmination of parenting skills which is establishing balance. Using the tools from all of the past modules, here you will learn to find balance between the three most common dilemmas in parenting 1- being too strict vs too loose 2- making too much of normal behaviors vs minimizing problem behaviors 3- and forcing independence vs fostering dependence. Although recommended in conjunction with the previous skills, the lessons from this module alone will still strengthen your household by creating balance in your thinking and doing, which is the ultimate path towards mental health in your home.
How You’ll Feel After Attending Our DBT Parenting Class
- Less confused about what happens when you kid shows intense emotions
- Less guilty about your roll in your child’s difficulties
- Empowered to navigate the normal and abnormal struggles of development
- Better prepared to center and calm yourself in tense family interactions
- Confident in your ability to build a connection with your child while holding them accountable
- Prepared to handle your child’s dangerous behaviors
- Knowledgeable of where to seek extra help if these skills are not enough
What Previous Participants Have Said
I found the leader to be a very engaging and honest teacher. She was never inappropriate but shared enough as a parent to make me feel like I wasn’t just a totally terrible parent and also that these skills are hard! She was never preachy or fake but very supportive and really demonstrated what we were trying to learn.
This workshop gave my husband and me so many tools to use, not only for BOTH our children, but also with each other and at work.
I’m glad we focused on skills and info rather than just a round robin of complaining about our individual situations.
Join Our DBT Parenting Class Online:
If you are ready to learn concrete skills to help you navigate your tween or teen child’s challenging behaviors, then we invite you to check out our parenting classes. We’re confident these classes can provide you with knowledge and tools to better help your child succeed.
To join our workshops, please follow these steps:
- Check out the online course program here!
- Choose between the two payment models and complete your purchase.
- Start watching the videos and practicing the exercises to help heal your family TODAY!
Other Services Offered at Montgomery Counseling Center in Rockville, MD.
In addition to parenting classes, we offer a wide variety of counseling services at our clinic located near Washington DC in Rockville, MD to meet your family or child’s mental health needs. Our services include DBT, parent coaching, family therapy, teen therapy, child therapy, adult therapy, and couples counseling. We also offer supervision opportunities for clinicians seeking their professional license. Right now we are offering all our services via online therapy in Maryland, online therapy in Virginia, and online therapy in Washington DC. Contact us to learn more about the many ways we can help you or your family heal and thrive.
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… to stay up-to-date with when we are offering our next rotation of the Parent Skills and Support workshop and any other offerings.