Integrating a Skills-Based Approach to Therapy at Elmbrook Schools

Wellpoint Care Network is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) that practices an Integrated Model of Care combining mental health services, substance abuse services and primary health services to treat the whole person — not just one symptom at a time.

Our Integrated Model of Care offers a wide range of therapeutic approaches to support a variety of needs, including Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), Integrated Dual Diagnosis Therapy (IDDT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and more.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) focuses on four skills:

• Mindfulness: This is the practice of being fully aware and focused in the present instead of worrying about the past or future.
• Distress tolerance: This involves understanding and managing your emotions in difficult or stressful situations without responding with harmful behaviors.
• Interpersonal effectiveness: This means understanding how to ask for what you want and need and setting boundaries while maintaining respect for yourself and others.
• Emotion regulation: This means understanding, being more aware of and having more control over your emotions.

“DBT work goes through those four categories and provides a ton of different skills on how people can effectively navigate any situation that they’re going through,” said Aleyah Coleman, Clinical Therapist at Wellpoint Care Network. “It’s a really cool way to basically build a toolkit of different skills you can whip out of your back pocket if you are experiencing any emotionally distressing moments.”

Because of its proven effectiveness, Wellpoint Care Network has begun to integrate DBT work into some of our school-based mental health settings. This past school year, Coleman worked in partnership with Elmbrook Schools to bring these important skills to students.

“Some of the school counselors had already been through DBT trainings,” said Coleman. “I came in and focused on helping them learn how to apply those skills in the school setting and what it might look like to teach those skills to a student.”

“Official DBT training is often two or three days,” said Liz Stegemann, Director of Student Services at Elmbrook Schools. “You may leave saying, ‘Yay, I learned all this new stuff.’ But then you come back to the classroom, and you don’t know how to use it. So, over the course of the year, what we were able to do with Aleyah was bring those concepts to life and say, ‘Let’s practice this — When would you use it? Who would you use it with.’ It helped us move from just a training to actual action, which was great.”

Coleman also worked with one of the school counselors to facilitate a DBT group for students. Please note: any direct work students have with Wellpoint Care Network staff is only done with parental consent.

“We found a group of students who seemed like they would be good candidates to learn these skills and then helped them navigate situations as they came up,” she said. “This is valuable information because everyone goes through challenging moments. It’s nice to have these skills when you’re struggling with something. Dialectical behavioral therapy helps you get an understanding of why you might react to things the way you do, and why your reactions might be different than someone else’s.”

“We really gravitated towards DBT because it is very skills-based, very tangible,” added Stegemann. “It gives kids, as well as our staff, skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. We also liked that it doesn’t feel like therapy or mental health work, it’s really all about mental wellness.”

With the school year now in the rearview mirror, Coleman and Stegemann both see the partnership as a success.

“Many of our teachers reported being able to understand dysregulation and reregulate kids more quickly and then have a skill-based action following that,” said Stegemann. “That makes a huge difference moving forward.”

“We actually did a pre-survey and then a post-survey of our DBT group and we saw some fantastic results,” added Coleman. “Students reported that they are more effectively handling situations and more effectively navigating their emotions. And I’ve also heard from a few staff members that they’ve used some of the skills not only for their students, but for themselves as well.”

Looking ahead to fall 2024, this strong partnership between Wellpoint Care Network and Elmbrook Schools will continue.

For information on how Wellpoint Care Network can partner with your school or organization, click here. To book an appointment in our Mental Health Clinic, click here.