The TREE group is an 18-weeks Skills Group for youth, ages 14-17, which aims to enhance a youth’s capacity to cope with and/or problem-solve issues. The group provides the opportunity to learn and rehearse new skillful behaviours, including mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, dialectical thinking and validation.
This group runs on an ongoing basis and may be offered virtually or in-person. Specific skill-based goals will be developed prior to each youth’s group start date. The group is designed as an adjunct to existing therapy to support and enhance the learning of new skills with generalization into real-life situations.
Goals of the Program:
- To increase the youth’s knowledge, acquisition and implementation of DBT skills
- To increase the youth’s generalization of skills across all relevant social contexts
- To improve the youth’s overall ways of coping with identified areas of concern
Inclusionary Criteria:
- Youth ages 14 to 17
- Youth who reside in Peel
- Youth demonstrates the capacity for insight and new learning in a group setting
- Youth has 1 or more of the following: suicidal thoughts, infrequent or irregular suicidal urges, infrequent non-suicidal self-harm, emotion dysregulation, depression and/or anxiety, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, poor school attendance/school refusal, substance use
Exclusionary Criteria:
- Youth who is actively suicidal and in need of immediate crisis stabilization
- Youth has a cognitive impairment which impacts the capacity for insight and new learning
- Youth has episodes of psychosis, visual and/or auditory hallucinations which impact functioning
- Youth requires the comprehensive DBT program
Referral Sources:
- Self-referrals
- Community Service Providers
- Peel CAS
- Peel School Boards
- Hospitals
- Youth Justice Services
Referral Process:
Community partners, youth and caregivers can contact the AYSP’s Youth Intake Specialist at 905.890.5222. Youth and caregivers can also make a self-referral by contacting Wheretostart.ca or by calling 905.451.4655. Partner agencies and AYSP staff working with clients who meet eligibility requirements can make a referral to the TREE Program via the Internal Transfer Protocol.