Judith Belmont - 127 More Amazing Tips and Tools For the Therapeutic Toolbox: DBT, CBT and Beyond

Copyright 2013 by Judith Belmont

Published by

PESI Publishing and Media

CMI Education Institute, Inc

3839 White Ave

Eau Claire, WI 54703

Cover Design: Amy Rubenzer

Layout Design: Bookmasters + Matt Pabich

Edited By: Kayla Omtvedt

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-93612-843-3

All rights reserved. Unlike most books, reproducing the materials in this book is highly encouraged for professional purposes. All pages are copyrighted and permission for reproducing is only granted if the footer at the bottom of the page is included in the copy.

This book is dedicated to the psychological pioneers who developed the theories of CBT, DBT and Positive Psychology. Their work has provided the foundation for this book. It is also dedicated to the practitioners and students of psycho-social education who share my conviction that practical, psycho-educational learning is essential for effective Counseling and Mental Health. Clinicians who incorporate life skills training into their practice realize that, as therapists, they are uniquely positioned to offer life skills to their clients, and thereby help them to make immediate and meaningful changes. With the conviction that life skills are essential to success in both professional and personal life, mental health professionals with a psycho-educational focus can serve as catalysts for long lasting life changes. This book is dedicated to the growing numbers of mental health practitioners who promote psycho-social education in their work, and who provide their clients with new life tools and skills to help them manage challenges throughout their lifetime.

127 TIPS delivers a wealth of ideas, skills, and exercises to apply and customize to a vast array of clinical issues and situations. Speaking to eclectic and integrative therapists (who comprise the majority of working practitioners), Judith Belmont taps in-demand and evidence-based treatments for their most practical interventions and teachings. Filled with psychoeducation, handouts, and worksheets for clients, active therapists will find TIPS to be a frequent and effective resource.

Lane Pederson, PsyD, author of The Expanded Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Manual and DBT Skills Training for Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment Settings

For your convenience, we have established a dedicated website to download all the worksheets and exercise from this book. This gives you a choice to photocopy from the book or printing the pages. The exercise will be labeled with the corresponding titles and pages.

go.pesi.com/127TIPS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Since the release of the first two books in the TIPS and TOOLS for theTherapeutic Toolbox series, I have been delighted to see the increasing interest mental health providers have in using practical, psycho-educational resources in their work with clients. This enthusiastic response has led me to write this third book with more TIPS and TOOLS, which includes recent technological and social media strategies. This book would not have been possible without insights I have gained through working with my clients who demonstrated the positive impact of various hands on strategies and interventions.

I am very thankful for the very competent team at PESI for being so supportive and encouraging in the entire process of developing this book, as well my previous books with them. Publisher Michael Olson, Business Manager and Publisher, Linda Jackson, Editor Kayla Omtvedt, and Cover and Layout Designers Amy Rubenzer and Matt Pabich have ensured the high quality of this book. Their integrity and professionalism is much appreciated.

Of course, the support from my family has also been invaluable, especially from my husband, Don, who has encouraged and supported me every step along the way.

If you would like your tip to be included in my next book in this series, please email your tip to:

TIP #1

Teach Them Something! Psycho-Education in Psychotherapy

THEORY: Most mental health professionals and their clients work towards change, but knowing how-to facilitate change is often the dilemma. Even if it is obvious what our clients need to handle life better, the how-tos often remain elusive. This book follows my other two TIPS and Tools books by offering practical and effective tips to make lasting life changes. The practical focus of this series provides mental health professionals with an array of activities, mini-lessons, reproducible handouts and worksheets to help clients learn how to make changes. The workbook series offers tools to help you help your clients learn basic life skills that are, unfortunately, rarely taught in formal education. They are shared with the belief that practical life skills are essential to success in life, both professionally and personally, and that therapists are uniquely positioned to offer these skills and process them with clients in a meaningful way.

Some clients see counseling as something that works or doesnt work, and this book will help clients take a more active role in their treatment. This newest book in the TIPS series helps clients and therapists alike be proactive in the therapeutic process. Even for the most treatment-resistant client, these TIPS for your therapeutic toolbox can offer some much-needed new and refreshing help in addressing even longstanding and persistent issues.

As Confucius said so aptly, Teach me and I will forget, show me and I will remember, involve me and I will understand.

This newest book of the series offers current ideas using new avenues for change. For example, using social media to support your clients and help them stay positive between sessions is a valuable addition to a more traditional counseling practice. At the same time, it also allows you to reach out to a larger audience. For those practitioners who want to widen their scope of influence seeking to improve the lives of others with inspirational posts, books, ebooks, speaking, consulting, etc. this book offers ideas of how to promote yourself and your message.

IMPLEMENTATION: These TIPS and Tools are designed to enhance the therapeutic experience in any setting by facilitating growth and healing through education, insight, active participation, and involvement.

The book follows the format of my other two books in the series, in which the Therapeutic Ideas & Practical Strategies are broken down further into working TIPS for each activity, handout, or general topic. Each TIP is broken down into Theory, Implementation, and Processinghence the acronym TIP.

For some chapters, the worksheets and handouts for clients are self-explanatory, and thus the TIP breakdown and explanation introduces mainly the entire segment of the book, not each individual TIP.

PROCESSING: All the material in this book is meant to be reproduced for personal use with your own clients and group participants. The first chapter highlights some of my most widely used TIPS that fit well with almost any counseling model. They represent samples of universal themes that all therapists who focus on practical life skills will address.