In parent and caregiver DBT therapy, we will start by setting goals and building skills to improve your relationship with your child. Additionally, we will set goals for how you can work together as caregivers to support one another when parenting gets hard. As parents, we are all doing the best we can and sometimes need a bit of help to do better.
Applying DBT Skills to Parenting
For parents and caregivers, we can tailor the same DBT skills that are used in individual therapy to the unique struggles of caring for a child as our best selves. In addition to learning ways to be skillful with your child, we also focus on ways you can regulate your own emotions in order to show up for your child in a more present and effective way.
The primary focus of parent and caregiver DBT is to help you learn a way of parenting that is more aligned with the kind of parent you envision yourself to be. Many people parent how they were parented, and sometimes we need to learn how to do things differently in order to be more effective parents for our children.
We will likely use a diary card similar to the following to guide our weekly sessions:
How to determine if DBT Caregiver Therapy is a good fit for you
Consider asking yourself a few questions from a realistic lens:
- Am I consistently proud of my choices as a parent?
- Does my child’s behavior trigger an emotional response in me at times that feels more intense than the situation at hand?
- Do I know how to sit with my child while they are experiencing emotions and provide appropriate support?
- Do my reactions make situations worse at times?
- Am I able to recognize when my child may be feeling an emotion?
- Am I able to recognize when I am feeling an emotion?
- Do I find myself judging myself or my child for doing or saying certain things?
- Do my partner and I know how to support each other in times of high emotion?
If you are struggling to identify if DBT parenting and caregiver therapy would be a good fit for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email kirstinwoods@mindfulhealingvt.com. We can find a time to discuss what you are looking for and how I can help.