La Europa Academy in the News!
Thrills, Chills and Skills with DBT!
For release January 9, 2012
It might be a stretch to suggest that Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is "thrilling," but everyone is very excited about expanding the use of DBT at La Europa. As many of you know, DBT is a therapeutic modality that focuses on helping people gain more awareness about themselves and their behavior and learn skills to regulate their emotions.
In the past few years, they have been teaching students at La Europa the DBT skills in a group format. These skills include: mindfulness (which is present moment awareness); distress tolerance (which includes self-soothing, hence the "chills" in the title!); emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. Once students have learned the skills, they are encouraged to use them, but this is always the hard part. Emotions take hold in the moment and students forget to use the skills or are not sure which skills to use. Often students do not recognize opportunities to use skills before the situation gets out of hand.
As the month of November draws to a close, they will be implementing more components of DBT at La Europa to help the student practice and generalize the skills they are learning. Students on certain levels will be using daily cards to track their moods, thoughts, urges and skill use. They will be setting goals for the week and identifying what they need to do to meet these goals and getting help from therapists, staff and community. And they will be using a "drill and skill" format with their therapist when they have a lapse in behavior so that they can drill down into the situation to look at what was impacting them in the moment and how to make a different choice in an emotionally charged situation.
As stated above, this is not exactly "thrilling" for the students. In fact, it's hard work. But the use of DBT has been proven effective and they believe it will continue to help their students increase their skillful behavior and decrease ineffective choices. Stay tuned for more "thrills, chills and skills" as these pieces fall into place!
La Europa Academy is a licensed RTC treating girls 14-18 yrs. They specialize in girls who have complex clinical needs and provide a vibrant and fully staffed college preparatory High School on-site.
La Europa Academy is a proud member of the CERTS programs.
Contact: Robbi O'Kelley
Executive Director
541.408.7581
robbi.okelley@gmail.com
www.laeuropaacademy.com
Summer Field Trips for La Europa Girls
For release Sept. 16, 2011
Over the summer, La Europa girls took several different field trips! They visited the Tracy Aviary, the Hill AFB Museum and the Clark Planetarium.
At the Tracy Aviary, the girls were able to see hundreds of different living birds from about 130 species. Some of the girls provided a temporary perch for a toucan, and one even held an Aplomado Falcon as it ate mice bits! Each girl chose a bird and wrote about why they identified with that particular species.
They also spent an afternoon touring the Hill Air Force Base Museum. There, they got to see a collection of more than 90 intact aircraft, weapons and artifacts. La Europa girls always enjoy this museum more than they expect and were struck by the rapid evolution of aviation engineering!
Another trip was made to the Clark Planetarium in downtown Salt Lake City. The girls saw moon rocks, meteorites and an IMAX 3D movie called “Born to be Wild”. This film is about the rehabilitation and release of orphaned orangutans and elephants. Women established both centers and the girls were touched by the humane treatment of the animals.
La Europa girls had a great summer and the faculty greatly enjoys teaching such fun, talented and interested students!