THUNDER BAY -- Six community organizations have come together to form a behaviour therapy group for people struggling to deal with intense emotions and impulsive behaviours.
Alpha Court Community Mental Health and Addiction Services, Anishnawbe Mushkiki Inc., Children’s Centre Thunder Bay, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, St. Joseph’s Care Group and Thunder Bay Counselling Centre have joined forces to create a Community Dialectal Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Based Skills Group.
Children’s Centre associate director Theresa Graham said the group is for anybody over the age of 18 who is experiencing emotional irregularity.
“They’re having anxiety and stress in their lives and they need some skills to be able to work through that and be able to understand that it’s OK to have these stressors but it’s how we manage them and come together with other like-minded people and facilitators to be able to work through those,” she said.
Graham said the DBT skills group will use fun, interactive ways to help people learn how to manage stress and painful emotions – so they can work through their issues when out in the community with friends and family.
“They can use the skills to be able to get through those stressful moments and not be reactive and maintain a calm and manage their emotions,” she said.
DBT has been practiced for years, but Graham said in the Thunder Bay area there have been waiting lists for up to three years.
With the six organizations coming together, they’ll be able to maintain an ongoing DBT skills group.
The Thunder Bay Counselling Centre’s manager of addiction services Aimee Jaun said it’s important to be able to increase the accessibility to this kind of therapy in the community.
“It provides an integration within our organizations to provide better services to our clients and to the community. Our facilitators are not only getting to know each other from other organizations, but other clients from the community and to be able to best match where clients are at with the services available,” she said.
DBT was first used to treat people dealing with suicidal behaviour, but it’s now also used to treat eating disorders, depression, substance abuse and anxiety.
Group sessions in Thunder Bay will begin in January. For more information call 683-4812.
