Providing Low-Cost DBT and CBT

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BHBA maintains its long-standing commitment to providing affordable evidence-based treatment for all ages. Clinicians at BHBA are proud to stand behind this mission and provide reduced fees to at least 20% of their caseload. 

We reduce rates even more for those in need, as our specialties are taught through our training program to interns and externs who are graduate students from Columbia University School of Social Work and Long Island University Brooklyn Campus Clinical Doctoral Program, who conduct treatment under supervision.

Please meet our new cohort of social work interns - Sarah Palasick and Ethan Sapienza, and psychology extern Alexandra Roseman! Alexandra is assisting Dr. Bellet with intakes, and they are all providing individual CBT and DBT therapy, are co-leading DBT skills groups, and are members of our multiple weekly DBT and CBT consultation team meetings (DBT & CBT for adults, teens, & children, exposure for trauma and OCD, and PMT). Check out our new offering - Radically Open DBT!  Click on their names below for a link to their full bios.

 

Sarah Palasick is a Social Work intern at BHBA and is in her second year at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, where she is a member of the intensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Training Program under the supervision of Dr. André Ivanoff. Sarah is drawn to DBT because of its emphasis on using skills to balance acceptance and change in order to treat complex problems, specifically disordered eating and related concerns.

 

Ethan Sapienza is an intern at BHBA and a student in his second year of the master’s program at the Columbia School of Social Work, where he is currently in the intensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) training program, under the supervision of Dr. André Ivanoff. Ethan became interested in DBT due to its proven effectiveness, its hands-on approach to therapy, its emphasis on acceptance, and its inclusion of mindfulness as a part of treatment. He is particularly interested in DBT as a treatment for trauma.

 

Alexandra Roseman is a first-year student at Long Island University Brooklyn in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. As a native New Yorker, Alex is excited to be back in NYC and to be a part of the BHBA team, especially given its multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to patient care. She is especially interested in DBT due to its strong roots in behavioral science, yet continued adaptability and effectiveness in treating a spectrum of cases and diverse patient populations. 

We're Getting DBT-LBC Certification!

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Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D., the founder of DBT and a behavioral scientist, is listed among the likes of Curie, Darwin, Einstein, Newton, and Hawking as one of the great scientists of our time in Time Magazine’s “Great Scientists: The Geniuses and Visionaries Who Transformed Our World.” She strove to understand and effectively treat suicide - driven by relentless pain of her own and others’ suffering, along with the recognition that psychiatric treatment for suicide was costly in lives and dollars and mostly ineffective. She dedicated her life to developing a set of scientifically proven standards and reliable interventions and then set about to teach as many people as she could. The high stakes made treatment success her sole focus, so she joined with the founding members of DBT-LBC to create a certification process to ensure that those providing DBT meet the highest standards and provide reliable care. Take a look at the work they do and DONATE if you can DBT-LBC. They are working hard to change legislation to improve insurance coverage for evidence-based practices at the Medicaid level and most of the expert adherence coders for certification work on a voluntary basis.

We at BHBA are all committed to demonstrating mastery in DBT and have initiated steps towards program certification. This is not easy to achieve. Yet, we owe it to our patients and our community to pursue this path. Please watch this 15-minute interview with Susan Snyder, LCSW, the Director of Program and Staff Development at BHBA, who is leading this charge. She, and the founder of BHBA, Dr. Bellet, discuss what motivates clinicians to work with trauma and suicide and why certification is important.   

Fun Ways to Practice Skills at Home!

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PHOTO BY KATE GLICKSBERG

PHOTO BY KATE GLICKSBERG

 

Erica Sava, LMSW, a DBT child specialist at BHBA, shares these great strategies to help your child with distress tolerance! Practice these strategies with your child as often as you can (age-dependent). Think of practice like a fire drill to prepare for a real emergency. Role-play and pretend play the likely triggers as much as possible, always ending with modeling distress tolerance skills as well as fully relaxing the body. As always, reward your child with warmth, attention, and praise when they do this!! They are working hard, especially when their emotions are high! Erica recommends:

  • Creating A Comfort Box:
    Create a box with your child and fill it with their most comforting items to increase the use of the distress tolerance skills of self-soothing with 5 senses. Show enthusiasm for how soothing each item is and model how they would use it by focusing on the senses that are engaged. Consider all five senses and pick multiple items. If your child gets a lot of comfort from, say petting a pet, then place a picture of the pet in the box with a note reminding your child to go pet the animal. It is very challenging for us all to remember to self-soothe when upset, so remind your child often to engage with their soothing items often so that they become attuned to the feelings of comfort and how to attain it. Common items: cozy blanket, sentimental pictures or mementos, slime, fidget toys, stuffed animals, pictures of family members, pets, vacation, candy, lotion, or cards/ games. 

  • Encouraging / Positive Self-Talk Projects:
    Create something that provides encouraging words and also boosts self-esteem! Write encouraging statements "I've got what it takes to cope with my emotions!" or "I can cope with any stressor that I face now and in the future!," in order to boost inner strength and grit. Encouragement is an essential DBT distress tolerance skill. They can also write things about themselves and what they are good at on homemade hearts and place them in a jar or bag. When they are feeling incapable, worried, or sad, they can read their own words to boost themselves up. For children who like to craft or draw, use a pillowcase to decorate with their hearts. Get creative!

  • Staycation:
    Have a vacation at home by gathering items that put you in a vacation mindset. Go to the beach! Gather beach towels, sunglasses, an umbrella, beach balls, a frisbee, sounds of waves or seagulls, and lemonade with an umbrella straw. Again, creativity is key! Not only will this help increase the use of the distress tolerance skill of ‘take a vacation’ by stepping away from stressors, it will also help increase imagery skill and accumulate positive emotions. 

  • Contributing Cards:
    Contributing to others’ happiness and well-being can help increase our own happiness. This is an often overlooked and very powerful distress tolerance skill. When your child is sad or worried, have them write cards, send pictures, or other creative projects to family members or friends. If your child does not want to make something, they can also bring food to someone’s house, call them on the phone, or donate their own savings to charity. This also provides an opportunity to praise your child for being thoughtful or generous.