Compass Behavioral Health

Call Now for a FREE Consultation

phone icon(888) 265-9114

certifications

RESIDENTIAL DBT TREATMENT FOR ADOLESCENTS

Proven Treatment
Outcomes for Teens

California’s First DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Program™. A Duke University Clinical Research Performance Site.

If your teen (13-17) is experiencing:

  • Borderline personality disorder or traits
  • Suicidal behaviors, ideation, or self-harm
  • Self-loathing or problems with negative rumination
  • Pervasive emotion dysregulation (big emotions, low skills)
  • Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or OCD spectrum disorders
  • Significant functional impairment caused by executive functioning issues, mood dependent behavior, or unstable sleep patterns

Check your coverage, know your child’s options, and get informed on the admissions process for our residential DBT program for adolescents.

Schedule Free Consultation

RESEARCH-BASED CURRICULUM & THERAPIES

Our Residential DBT Program for Adolescents Has a Proven Track Record of Success

During the admissions process, we clearly detail the packages at our DBT residential treatment centers. We also make sure our pricing is straightforward from the very start so there are no hidden fees or surprises.

Research-Proven Outcomes

As a Duke University Performance Site, we are concluding a 4-year study on the effective treatment of identity dysregulation in suicidal, self-harming teens. Our residential DBT program for adolescents was built around our study findings.

Recognized DBT Experts

Compass is a DBT Rotation & Training Site for UCI Medical School Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Columbia University School of Social Work. We are California’s first DBT-Linehan Board of Certification Certified Program™.

Holistic Wellness Approach

Our residential DBT program for adolescents focuses on nutritional psychiatry, personalized executive functioning coaching, daily fitness, mindfulness, self-compassion training, intensive family DBT skills training, and researched-based family therapy.

Our Admissions Process

Our admissions process involves a thorough assessment allowing us to ensure that our residential DBT program for adolescents is the right fit for your child’s needs, customize your child’s treatment plan, and track treatment gains as a source of accountability.

1

Free Consultation

After completing a brief survey of treatment needs, you will be scheduled with a free Meet & Greet with our Residential Clinical Director for both a tour of the program and personal consultation to ensure your child’s unique needs can be met by our program.

2

Insurance Authorization for Treatment

Compass retains its high success rate of obtaining single-case agreement contracts for treatment through a proven assessment method.

A full clinical intake assessment and assessment battery of psychological tests are obtained and utilized to support a request for a single-case agreement or an in-network authorization.

Once obtained, a verification of insurance benefits is made based on this authorization, and true out-of-pocket costs are determined for your approval.

3

Admissions

Once authorization is obtained and share of cost is approved, you will receive a scheduled admissions day. A complete medical screening with labs must be completed before admitting day, along with the remaining intake paperwork.

Once your intake packet is complete, it will be reviewed and approved by our Medical Director. You will then receive our Program Orientation Guidebook, complete with a packing list, program schedule, important policies and procedures, and curriculum handouts.

World-Class Care in a Retreat-Like Setting

Our residential DBT treatment center for adolescents offers a holistic approach to healing and a whole-family approach to treatment.

CONNECT WITH US

24/7 ONSITE SUPPORT FOR YOUR TEEN

The Journey to Healing Starts With the Right Support

Compass Behavioral Health’s Executive Director is a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification™ Certified Clinician™ and a calibrated DBT Adherence Coder through the University of Washington, and has taught DBT at UCI School of Medicine since 2004.

Our Medical Director is Certified in Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Additionally, Dr. Motakef is trained in Nutritional Psychiatry and Fitness and believes in a holistic approach to treatment, including training of resident’s “PLEASE skills”.

Our Clinical Director received his DBT Intensive Training at Columbia University and is a research clinician on the Compass-Duke University study examining the treatment of identity dysregulation among suicidal and self-harming teens.

Individual therapy is overseen by Dialectical Behavioral Therapy – Linehan Board of Certification™, Certified Clinicians™ who are calibrated DBT Adherence Coders through the University of Washington.

Compass Behavioral Health’s Program Manager is a veteran psychiatric nurse of adolescent residential care, with a specialization in eating disorder treatment.

All Guides (milieu counselors) have their bachelor’s and are in a Compass DBT Comprehensive Training Externship for Pre-Masters & Masters Level Graduate Studies in clinical psychology or social work.

VIEW ALL STAFF

RESEARCH-BASED CURRICULUM & THERAPIES

Our DBT Residential Treatment Center Offers Individualized Treatment For Your Child

Compass specializes in treating kids with Big Emotions and Low Skills. Our programming is like “Driver’s Ed,” teaching kids how to skillfully drive themselves through a combination of classroom lessons and behind-the-wheel drive time.

Our DBT Skills Training Group targets emotion regulation skills, while our structured milieu management protocols and intensive family therapy “pull out” new skillful behaviors. Our kids are like manual transmissions in a world full of automatics; we’ve got the right curriculum to teach them how to shift their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and gain mastery over themselves.

How we support your child:

  • 6 residents maximum for focused care
  • All genders are welcome
  • Mood disorders only with a Borderline Personality Disorder track
  • 24-hour crisis intervention and DBT skills coaching
  • On-site nursing
  • 12 hour on-site nursing and 24 hour access to our physician
  • 1x weekly psychiatric medication management
  • 3 hours of individual therapy weekly by licensed DBT clinicians
  • 3 hours per week of attachment-based family therapy
  • Group therapies focused on evidenced-based treatments
  • Saturday family day programs and support
SCHEDULE FREE CONSULTATION
Instead of endlessly searching “residential dbt programs adolescent near me,” reach out to our admissions team to identify the best possible match

Residential Treatment in the Heart of Orange County, CA

Compass Behavioral Health is a DBT residential treatment center that works. Our approach is grounded in research and backed by decades of experience.

Our Residential DBT Program for Adolescents Includes…

Our goal is to help give kids the skills they need to develop mastery over regulating their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, while solidifying their identity. We focus on Whole Family Wellness, coaching parents to be an effective Emotion Regulation Coach for their child while strengthening the parent-child attachment bond.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Adulting (Chores) Group

#Adulting (Chores) Group

Art Therapy

Art Therapy

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Community Group

Community Group

Close X
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive Functioning Coaching

Family Therapy

Family Therapy

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Horticulture Therapy

Horticulture Therapy

Close X
Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Individual Skills Coaching

Individual Skills Coaching

Individual Therapy

Individual Therapy

Love Mapping

Love Mapping

Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Close X
Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Parent Effectiveness Training

Parent Effectiveness Training

Physical Fitness & Yoga

Physical Fitness & Yoga

Sleep Hygiene Group

Sleep Hygiene Group

Close X

Our Residential DBT Program for Adolescents Includes…

Our goal is to help give kids the skills they need to develop mastery over regulating their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, while solidifying their identity. We focus on Whole Family Wellness, coaching parents to be an effective Emotion Regulation Coach for their child while strengthening the parent-child attachment bond.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Once per week, residents will engage in a 60-minute ACT group. The ACT curriculum is graciously shared with our program from Yale New-Haven Hospital’s Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program. ACT is a third wave behavioral treatment with the goal of creating psychological flexibility in responses to cognitions and emotions so that people may live a more values consistent life. While this group is didactic in nature, it is taught with experiential exercises aimed to help residents absorb the fundamental principles of ACT by practicing acceptance as an alternative to avoidance, diffusion from difficult thoughts, target an overarching theme of their self-view, and engage in identity exploration and discovery consistent with their values. Research supports the use of ACT with adolescents (i.e., Halliburton & Cooper, 2015; Miller & Scherbarth, 2006).
Adulting (Chores) Group

#Adulting (Chores) Group

Residents will engage in one, 90-minute experiential group on Sunday in which they learn how to do various household chores. In this group they will learn the specific cleaning methods for various parts of their dwelling (i.e., kitchen, bathroom) as well as maintenance and sanitation principles. Research maintains that engagement in chores is predictor of positive mental health outcomes (i.e., Campos et al., 2019; Rende, 2015).
Art Therapy

Art Therapy

Residents will engage in a 60-minute art therapy group once a week. Art therapy has many positive therapeutic benefits as it allows clients a creative and tangible way to express and enrich their experiences. Research supports the use of art therapy with adolescents (i.e., Lyshak-Selzer et al., 2007).
Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Three times a week, residents engage in 60-minute CBT group. The CBT curriculum is the Unified Protocol for Adolescents and is graciously shared with our program from Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program. The Unified Protocol is a transdiagnostic approach with research supporting its use for the treatment of emotional disorders, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, somatic symptoms disorders, OCD and many others (i.e., Ehrenreich-May et al., 2017). While this group is didactic in nature, it is taught with experiential exercises aimed to help residents counteract emotional avoidance, identify and modify thinking traps, and understand and implement the principles of exposure.
Community Group

Community Group

Community group is an optional group residents may attend once per week for 30 minutes. In this group, residents have the opportunity to provide agenda items related to feedback regarding the program, staff supports and general concerns. In line with previous research and other DBT programs housed in milieu-based settings (i.e., Swenson, Witterholt, and Bohus, 2007), residents will be guided to solve such concerns with DBT skills.
Close X
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Three times per week, residents engage in a 90-minute DBT skills group. This group is structured like a class, in that it is didactic in nature, even though skill leaders do often teach in an experiential and engaging way. Owing to an average 30-day length of stay in our program, the curriculum for the DBT skills group does not include the full 24-week DBT skills curriculum that is typically delivered in outpatient therapy. Rather, there are 12 lessons taught that cover the Distress Tolerance and Emotion Regulation modules. The other modules of Mindfulness and Interpersonal Effectiveness are covered in other elements of the programming. Each resident gets focused time to review homework followed by presentation of new material each week. The purpose of the skills group is to learn and intentionally practice coping skills. The skills are then used to help residents address problems in other parts of the program. Research supports the use of DBT for Adolescents (i.e., McCauley et al., 2018; Miller, Rathus and Linehan, 2007).
Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive function is the ability to self-regulate thoughts and organize behavior. Challenges to executive functioning may appear in daily life as difficulty beginning tasks, initiating a task but not seeing it through, inability to follow a full set of directions, struggling to express ideas, etc. Five days a week, residents will participate in a 30-minute Executive Functioning group before completing schoolwork and/or therapy assignments. The group structure will include a brief lesson on an executive function strategy followed by skills practice to support residents as they transition to doing their work for the day. Since consistency is critical to executive function, the primary objective of the curriculum is for residents to learn success-promoting strategies they can apply outside of residential treatment. Research supports the use of executive function coaching with Adolescents (i.e., Staiano, Abraham, and Calvert, 2012).
Family Therapy

Family Therapy

Research strongly supports the inclusion of families in adolescent treatment (Frey et al., 2022; Wittenborn et al., 2022), and as a result, residents and their caregivers attend family therapy sessions twice weekly for 90 minutes each session. Our family therapy approach marries key components of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with families (Fruzzetti et al., 2007) and attachment-based therapies for adolescents (Foroughe, 2018; Kobak & Kerig, 2015). A recent article (Frey et al., 2022) suggests combining the best elements of these two evidence-based treatment approaches to create a holistic treatment model, and our family therapists, who have training in DBT and attachment-based therapies, unite these approaches as they help families address their negative interaction patterns, increase their awareness and communication of accurate expressions of primary emotions and validation, participate in new emotional experiences, and grow their developmentally-appropriate adolescent-parent attachments. Depending on the needs of the family, residents may or may not be included within family therapy sessions, and family therapy sessions may be facilitated virtually or in-person.
Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group was designed to provide families with information on attachment theory and processes and to offer families the opportunity to identify how attachment processes present in their family dynamics and interactional cycles. Broadly, group lessons contain information on attachment theory, attachment ruptures, negative interaction cycles, corrective emotional experiences, parental dynamics and trauma, and attachment-focused parenting practices. In this group, residents and their caregivers meet once weekly for 1 hour (residents and caregivers meet during the first two sessions and caregivers only meet during the second two sessions), and the group structure mimics a classroom format. Each group includes a brief lesson followed by an experiential activity to support group members’ generalization of the practices outlined in the lesson. The lessons and practices that comprise the Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group curriculum were developed using and borrowing from previous research on attachment theory and interpersonal relationships in families (Johnson, 2004; Johnson, 2008; Diamond et al., 2014; Keiley, 2011).
Horticulture Therapy

Horticulture Therapy

Residents will engage in horticulture therapy once a week for an hour. Horticulture therapy is the engagement in gardening and plant-based activities for therapeutic purposes. To this end, residents will engage in gardening activities as part of weekly programming. Research supports positive health outcomes for adolescents who engage in horticulture therapy (i.e., Park et al., 2016).
Close X
Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Residents will engage in an interpersonal effectiveness group once a week for 60-minutes. In this group, residents will participate in four lessons, two of which are from the DBT skills curriculum, and the other two are derived from the Unified Protocol and graciously shared with our program Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program. This group has a didactic component and is heavily experiential with communication practices each group. Residents will learn how to prioritize their objectives, self-respect and relationship goals, and effective communication strategies to achieve them. Research supports increasing communication skills for adolescents as way to yield positive mental health outcomes (i.e., Kim & White, 2018).
Individual Skills Coaching

Individual Skills Coaching

Directly after individual therapy, residents will engage in individual skills coaching twice-weekly for 60-minutes. During individual skills coaching, residents work on requisite behavioral rehearsal of skills identified during individual therapy.
Individual Therapy

Individual Therapy

Residents will participate in individual therapy twice weekly for 90 minutes. Compass Behavioral Health is proud to hold the standard of all licensed therapists achieving certification in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through the DBT Linehan Board of Certification. Compass also has clinicians certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) through the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies. All therapists at Compass Behavioral Health are highly trained and skilled in several evidence-based therapies, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, CBT, DBT, Emotion Focused Therapy, Structural Family Therapy, and Behavior Therapy. Additionally, therapists are highly trained and skilled in the following evidence-based CBT modalities, protocols, and transdiagnostic approaches: Motivational Interviewing, Behavior Activation, CBT for Eating Disorders, CBT for Insomnia, Exposure and Response Prevention, Mastery of Anxiety and Panic for Adolescents, Prolonged Exposure, DBT Prolonged Exposure, Relaxation Training, and Mindful Self-Compassion.
Love Mapping

Love Mapping

Residents will engage in 30-minutes of “love mapping” activities with their caregivers on Saturday. Love mapping is a technique coined by University of Washington professor emeritus, Dr. John Gottman and part of his principles on building sound, effective relationships. Love maps are questions that generate discussion and allow families to increase their understanding of each other. Research supports the use of love mapping in building relationships (i.e., Gottman & Gottman, 2017).
Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Residents will be provided with 90-minutes of culinary instruction Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, two families will rotate as they receive a tailored culinary instruction. A primary part of our treatment is Nutritional Psychiatry which is taught at the beginning of culinary lab when teaching didactics on the ingredients and how they stabilize mood and improve focus. Culinary Lab then focuses on building mastery on the skill of cooking the adult living skill of cooking and on how to cook meals that are nutritional, delicious, and bode well for healthy neurotransmission function. Research supports the use of culinary instruction for improving mental health outcomes in adolescents (i.e., Marshall et al., 2016).
Close X
Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

One time per week, residents and their families engage in a 2.5-hour DBT Multifamily Skills Group. The first 30 minutes is pre group and is dedicated time for residents and their families to do homework and socialize and bond with one another. The remaining 2 hours are structured like a class, in that is it didactic in nature, even though skill leaders do often teach in an experiential and engaging way. Each member will get focused time to review homework followed by a presentation of new material each week. The curriculum consists of teaching the DBT Middle Path skills modules which includes behavioral modification, dialectics, and validation. Dialectics helps families merge various perspectives and become less extreme in their thinking as they generate balance and work toward syntheses. A primary dialectical dilemma is balancing the need to change with the need to accept. This is accomplished as families learn behavioral modification skills and validation. The curriculum also contains a lesson on “dirty fighting” that occurs in families, and strategies to reduce these behaviors and increase more effective communication. Research supports to use of DBT Multifamily Skills Group (i.e., McCauley et al., 2018; Miller, Rathus and Linehan, 2007) and research also supports the use of teaching “dirty fighting” in reducing family conflict (i.e., Edmund, 2010).
Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Residents begin each day with 30 minutes of mindfulness and mindful self-compassion. This group consists of experiential exercises followed by a brief didactic on the particular practice. Following the practice, residents will set a goal for the day and at the end of the day, they review their goal in another mindfulness group. The mindfulness curriculum is derived from the mindfulness module in DBT skills and the mindful self-compassion curriculum is derived from The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens (Bluth, 2017). Research supports the use of Mindfulness with adolescents (i.e., Black, 2015; Burke, 2010).
Parent Effectiveness Training

Parent Effectiveness Training

Once a week, caregivers of residents will attend a 90-minute parent effectiveness group once a week. The curriculum for this group is based two sources: 1. DBT-based parent intervention developed in a research trial at Stanford University (Berk et al., 2021), and 2. A “Parenting Teens with Strong Emotions” group at Seattle Children’s Hospital graciously shared with us by Dr. Kyrill Gurtovenko. In this group, parents will receive training in validation, increasing positive time with their teens, crisis management, and contingency management). This group has both strong didactic and experiential components. During the week, caregivers are asked to watch each lesson that is prerecorded during the week prior to the group. During the group, caregivers will have focused time to both practice the steps of each lesson with behavioral rehearsal as well as discuss barriers they encounter to implementing the skill. Research supports the use of Parent Effectiveness Training to yield positive outcomes (i.e., Berk et al., 2021).
Physical Fitness & Yoga

Physical Fitness & Yoga

Residents will engage in 60-minutes of physical fitness Monday through Friday and will participate in a 60-minute yoga class on Sunday. The RTC is equip with a state-of-the-art cross fit gym and spacious lawn for these activities. Residents will have access to a physical fitness trainer and trauma informed yoga instructor. Research shows that engagement in physical activity (e.g., exercise, yoga) yields positive metal health outcomes (i.e., Biddle & Asare, 2011; Khalsa et al., 2012).
Sleep Hygiene Group

Sleep Hygiene Group

Residents will participate nightly in a sleep hygiene group that is has a brief didactic component and is chiefly experiential in nature. The curriculum for this group is derived from Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program CBT group and the CBT for Insomnia protocol. Residents will learn the fundamental components of sleep hygiene and will engage in behavioral rehearsal of sleep hygiene interventions such as progressive muscle relaxation and self-soothing, and cognitive based strategies for rumination. Research supports the use of sleep hygiene practices yielding positive outcomes for adolescents (i.e., Malone, 2011; Peach et al., 2016).
Close X

CUSTOMIZED TREATMENTS FOR EACH CHILD

Take Advantage of the
Compass Experience

Your child will thrive in our beautiful residence while learning emotional regulation, self-compassion, adult living skills, and improved family communication.

Unique Offerings

  • Our property feels like a meditation retreat center, perfect for practicing mindfulness, yoga, and mindful self-compassion
  • With a full on-site gym, we support your child’s physical health with daily Fitness Programs including Pilates, Cross-Fit, and Zumba
  • Every child is encouraged to unplug and get grounded in our Horticulture Therapy Program, which includes a beautiful nursery and on-site vegetable garden with over 30 fruit trees
  • Your child will learn basic cooking skills in our culinary program
  • Through Moodtrition Group, your child will learn how to manage their mind and mood through food

Check your coverage and learn more to get care for your child!

Schedule Free Consultation

Get Help Navigating Your Insurance Coverage

Compass Behavioral Health has a high rate of obtaining single-case agreements as a certified residential DBT program for adolescents. We’ll work with your insurance provider to get you the best coverage possible and minimize your expenses.

Verify Your Insurance

Your Questions Answered

How can I pay for Compass Behavioral Health’s DBT residential treatment center?

We now take Anthem Blue Cross!

For other insurances:
Due to Compass being one of the few DBT-Linehan Board of CertificationTM Programs in the country, Compass has a high success rate of obtaining an in-network authorization or a single case agreement. What this means for you is that you will be paying the same deductible and share-of-cost as if you chose an in-network provider.

Why choose Compass Behavioral Health for my teen?

Our residential DBT program was designed around our research findings of what it takes to truly put self-harm and suicide behaviors in remission.  

  • We treat mood disorders only and do not admit teens with substance abuse challenges into our program. 
  • We have strong contagion behavior management protocols. 
  • Robust therapy program: 3 hours of individual weekly & 3 hours of family weekly. 
  • In-depth family component with our Saturday Family Day Programming to improve retention of treatment gains post discharge. 
  • Licensed team of clinicians with impressive certifications and training that you can view on our staff page.
  • Our floor staff are graduate clinical students in a 24 month DBT training externship.
  • We have unsurpassed observation, staffing ratios, and safety protocols.

Who do you treat?

Our services are targeted towards adolescents and teenagers struggling with depression and anxiety as well as other behavioral conditions such as BPD and bipolar disorder. This contrasts with other residential DBT programs for adolescents where substance abuse takes center stage. Before accepting a client, the Residential Clinical Director leads our admissions team through a rigorous review of their history. This includes:

  • Hospital records 
  • School records 
  • Psychiatric records 
  • Other relevant documentation

This review allows us to verify that each resident is appropriate for our program and can benefit from our research-developed curriculum. Our goal is to help your child learn how to regulate their thoughts & emotions and build a healthy life.

What is your treatment approach?

Our goal is to help give kids the skills they need to develop mastery over regulating their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, while solidifying their identity. We focus on Whole Family Wellness, coaching parents to be an effective Emotion Regulation Coach for their child while strengthening the parent-child attachment bond.

Weekly Clinical Program Includes:

Robust Individual Therapy

  • 3 hours of individual therapy provided by expertly trained clinicians competent in providing:
    • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for managing big emotions 
    • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for problematic thoughts, beliefs, and habits
    • DBT-Prolonged Exposure for trauma
    • Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for gaining distance and perspective on problematic emotions and thoughts
    • Exposure-Response Prevention for OCD and anxiety-related conditions
    • Family-Based Therapy for anorexia
  • 1 hour psychiatric evaluation and medication management with a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist
  • 1 hour of nutritional counseling with a registered dietitian.

Robust Family Treatment

  • 3 hours of DBT Attachment-Based Family Therapy
  • 2 hours of DBT Multi-Family Group
  • 1.5 hours of Parent Effectiveness Training and consultation to the parent
  • 1 hour of Attachment-Based Multi-Family Group Therapy
  • 1 hour of family fitness

Evidenced-Based Groups

  • 9 hours of DBT Skills Training.
  • 5 hours of Executive Functioning Coaching and SMART goals training
  • 3.5 hours of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • 3.5 hours of sleep hygiene and anti-anxiety skills practice
  • 2.5 hours of mindfulness training and practice
  • 1 hour of Mindful Self-Compassion
  • 1 hour of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
  • 1 hour of Art Therapy, Psychodrama Therapy, Music Therapy, or Recreational Therapy

Whole-Child Wellness

  • 10 hours of school with an assessment and remediation focus
  • 7 hours of physical fitness including daily group fitness, yoga, and sports recreation
  • 5 hours of Nutritional Therapy and Culinary Lab
  • Adulting living skills are also woven throughout the program as residents are taught to cook, do their laundry, clean their rooms and bathrooms, and manage their personal hygiene daily

Praise for Compass Behavioral Health

Praise from Past Parent

5 star rating

“Thank you for devoting your life to this purpose. Thank you for the scores of lives and families you are saving. I am profoundly indebted to you, and the Compass family. If there is ever any way I can give back, please do let me know.”

Past Parent
Parent Feedback at Discharge

Praise from Program Evaluator

5 star rating

“In my 15 years as a CARF program surveyor, having surveyed over 300 programs, I would place Compass in the top 3 of programs in terms of program quality.”

CARF Program Surveyor

Praise from Health Insurer

5 star rating

“Compass is the top teen residential program in the country, if I had a child that needed residential treatment I would send them here.”

Health Insurance Case Mgr
For Family Needing Referral

Program Includes…

Our goal is to help give kids the skills they need to develop mastery over regulating their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, while solidifying their identity. We focus on Whole Family Wellness, coaching parents to be an effective Emotion Regulation Coach for their child while strengthening the parent-child attachment bond.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group

Once per week, residents will engage in a 60-minute ACT group. The ACT curriculum is graciously shared with our program from Yale New-Haven Hospital’s Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program. ACT is a third wave behavioral treatment with the goal of creating psychological flexibility in responses to cognitions and emotions so that people may live a more values consistent life. While this group is didactic in nature, it is taught with experiential exercises aimed to help residents absorb the fundamental principles of ACT by practicing acceptance as an alternative to avoidance, diffusion from difficult thoughts, target an overarching theme of their self-view, and engage in identity exploration and discovery consistent with their values. Research supports the use of ACT with adolescents (i.e., Halliburton & Cooper, 2015; Miller & Scherbarth, 2006).
Adulting (Chores) Group

#Adulting (Chores) Group

Residents will engage in one, 90-minute experiential group on Sunday in which they learn how to do various household chores. In this group they will learn the specific cleaning methods for various parts of their dwelling (i.e., kitchen, bathroom) as well as maintenance and sanitation principles. Research maintains that engagement in chores is predictor of positive mental health outcomes (i.e., Campos et al., 2019; Rende, 2015).
Art Therapy

Art Therapy

Residents will engage in a 60-minute art therapy group once a week. Art therapy has many positive therapeutic benefits as it allows clients a creative and tangible way to express and enrich their experiences. Research supports the use of art therapy with adolescents (i.e., Lyshak-Selzer et al., 2007).
Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Group

Three times a week, residents engage in 60-minute CBT group. The CBT curriculum is the Unified Protocol for Adolescents and is graciously shared with our program from Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program. The Unified Protocol is a transdiagnostic approach with research supporting its use for the treatment of emotional disorders, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, somatic symptoms disorders, OCD and many others (i.e., Ehrenreich-May et al., 2017). While this group is didactic in nature, it is taught with experiential exercises aimed to help residents counteract emotional avoidance, identify and modify thinking traps, and understand and implement the principles of exposure.
Community Group

Community Group

Community group is an optional group residents may attend once per week for 30 minutes. In this group, residents have the opportunity to provide agenda items related to feedback regarding the program, staff supports and general concerns. In line with previous research and other DBT programs housed in milieu-based settings (i.e., Swenson, Witterholt, and Bohus, 2007), residents will be guided to solve such concerns with DBT skills.
Close X
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Three times per week, residents engage in a 90-minute DBT skills group. This group is structured like a class, in that it is didactic in nature, even though skill leaders do often teach in an experiential and engaging way. Owing to an average 30-day length of stay in our program, the curriculum for the DBT skills group does not include the full 24-week DBT skills curriculum that is typically delivered in outpatient therapy. Rather, there are 12 lessons taught that cover the Distress Tolerance and Emotion Regulation modules. The other modules of Mindfulness and Interpersonal Effectiveness are covered in other elements of the programming. Each resident gets focused time to review homework followed by presentation of new material each week. The purpose of the skills group is to learn and intentionally practice coping skills. The skills are then used to help residents address problems in other parts of the program. Research supports the use of DBT for Adolescents (i.e., McCauley et al., 2018; Miller, Rathus and Linehan, 2007).
Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive function is the ability to self-regulate thoughts and organize behavior. Challenges to executive functioning may appear in daily life as difficulty beginning tasks, initiating a task but not seeing it through, inability to follow a full set of directions, struggling to express ideas, etc. Five days a week, residents will participate in a 30-minute Executive Functioning group before completing schoolwork and/or therapy assignments. The group structure will include a brief lesson on an executive function strategy followed by skills practice to support residents as they transition to doing their work for the day. Since consistency is critical to executive function, the primary objective of the curriculum is for residents to learn success-promoting strategies they can apply outside of residential treatment. Research supports the use of executive function coaching with Adolescents (i.e., Staiano, Abraham, and Calvert, 2012).
Family Therapy

Family Therapy

Research strongly supports the inclusion of families in adolescent treatment (Frey et al., 2022; Wittenborn et al., 2022), and as a result, residents and their caregivers attend family therapy sessions twice weekly for 90 minutes each session. Our family therapy approach marries key components of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with families (Fruzzetti et al., 2007) and attachment-based therapies for adolescents (Foroughe, 2018; Kobak & Kerig, 2015). A recent article (Frey et al., 2022) suggests combining the best elements of these two evidence-based treatment approaches to create a holistic treatment model, and our family therapists, who have training in DBT and attachment-based therapies, unite these approaches as they help families address their negative interaction patterns, increase their awareness and communication of accurate expressions of primary emotions and validation, participate in new emotional experiences, and grow their developmentally-appropriate adolescent-parent attachments. Depending on the needs of the family, residents may or may not be included within family therapy sessions, and family therapy sessions may be facilitated virtually or in-person.
Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group

Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group was designed to provide families with information on attachment theory and processes and to offer families the opportunity to identify how attachment processes present in their family dynamics and interactional cycles. Broadly, group lessons contain information on attachment theory, attachment ruptures, negative interaction cycles, corrective emotional experiences, parental dynamics and trauma, and attachment-focused parenting practices. In this group, residents and their caregivers meet once weekly for 1 hour (residents and caregivers meet during the first two sessions and caregivers only meet during the second two sessions), and the group structure mimics a classroom format. Each group includes a brief lesson followed by an experiential activity to support group members’ generalization of the practices outlined in the lesson. The lessons and practices that comprise the Attachment-Focused Multi-Family Group curriculum were developed using and borrowing from previous research on attachment theory and interpersonal relationships in families (Johnson, 2004; Johnson, 2008; Diamond et al., 2014; Keiley, 2011).
Horticulture Therapy

Horticulture Therapy

Residents will engage in horticulture therapy once a week for an hour. Horticulture therapy is the engagement in gardening and plant-based activities for therapeutic purposes. To this end, residents will engage in gardening activities as part of weekly programming. Research supports positive health outcomes for adolescents who engage in horticulture therapy (i.e., Park et al., 2016).
Close X
Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Interpersonal Effectiveness Group

Residents will engage in an interpersonal effectiveness group once a week for 60-minutes. In this group, residents will participate in four lessons, two of which are from the DBT skills curriculum, and the other two are derived from the Unified Protocol and graciously shared with our program Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program. This group has a didactic component and is heavily experiential with communication practices each group. Residents will learn how to prioritize their objectives, self-respect and relationship goals, and effective communication strategies to achieve them. Research supports increasing communication skills for adolescents as way to yield positive mental health outcomes (i.e., Kim & White, 2018).
Individual Skills Coaching

Individual Skills Coaching

Directly after individual therapy, residents will engage in individual skills coaching twice-weekly for 60-minutes. During individual skills coaching, residents work on requisite behavioral rehearsal of skills identified during individual therapy.
Individual Therapy

Individual Therapy

Residents will participate in individual therapy twice weekly for 90 minutes. Compass Behavioral Health is proud to hold the standard of all licensed therapists achieving certification in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through the DBT Linehan Board of Certification. Compass also has clinicians certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) through the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies. All therapists at Compass Behavioral Health are highly trained and skilled in several evidence-based therapies, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, CBT, DBT, Emotion Focused Therapy, Structural Family Therapy, and Behavior Therapy. Additionally, therapists are highly trained and skilled in the following evidence-based CBT modalities, protocols, and transdiagnostic approaches: Motivational Interviewing, Behavior Activation, CBT for Eating Disorders, CBT for Insomnia, Exposure and Response Prevention, Mastery of Anxiety and Panic for Adolescents, Prolonged Exposure, DBT Prolonged Exposure, Relaxation Training, and Mindful Self-Compassion.
Love Mapping

Love Mapping

Residents will engage in 30-minutes of “love mapping” activities with their caregivers on Saturday. Love mapping is a technique coined by University of Washington professor emeritus, Dr. John Gottman and part of his principles on building sound, effective relationships. Love maps are questions that generate discussion and allow families to increase their understanding of each other. Research supports the use of love mapping in building relationships (i.e., Gottman & Gottman, 2017).
Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Mindful Cooking & Culinary Lab

Residents will be provided with 90-minutes of culinary instruction Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, two families will rotate as they receive a tailored culinary instruction. A primary part of our treatment is Nutritional Psychiatry which is taught at the beginning of culinary lab when teaching didactics on the ingredients and how they stabilize mood and improve focus. Culinary Lab then focuses on building mastery on the skill of cooking the adult living skill of cooking and on how to cook meals that are nutritional, delicious, and bode well for healthy neurotransmission function. Research supports the use of culinary instruction for improving mental health outcomes in adolescents (i.e., Marshall et al., 2016).
Close X
Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

Multi-Family Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group

One time per week, residents and their families engage in a 2.5-hour DBT Multifamily Skills Group. The first 30 minutes is pre group and is dedicated time for residents and their families to do homework and socialize and bond with one another. The remaining 2 hours are structured like a class, in that is it didactic in nature, even though skill leaders do often teach in an experiential and engaging way. Each member will get focused time to review homework followed by a presentation of new material each week. The curriculum consists of teaching the DBT Middle Path skills modules which includes behavioral modification, dialectics, and validation. Dialectics helps families merge various perspectives and become less extreme in their thinking as they generate balance and work toward syntheses. A primary dialectical dilemma is balancing the need to change with the need to accept. This is accomplished as families learn behavioral modification skills and validation. The curriculum also contains a lesson on “dirty fighting” that occurs in families, and strategies to reduce these behaviors and increase more effective communication. Research supports to use of DBT Multifamily Skills Group (i.e., McCauley et al., 2018; Miller, Rathus and Linehan, 2007) and research also supports the use of teaching “dirty fighting” in reducing family conflict (i.e., Edmund, 2010).
Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Mindfulness & Mindful Self-Compassion

Residents begin each day with 30 minutes of mindfulness and mindful self-compassion. This group consists of experiential exercises followed by a brief didactic on the particular practice. Following the practice, residents will set a goal for the day and at the end of the day, they review their goal in another mindfulness group. The mindfulness curriculum is derived from the mindfulness module in DBT skills and the mindful self-compassion curriculum is derived from The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens (Bluth, 2017). Research supports the use of Mindfulness with adolescents (i.e., Black, 2015; Burke, 2010).
Parent Effectiveness Training

Parent Effectiveness Training

Once a week, caregivers of residents will attend a 90-minute parent effectiveness group once a week. The curriculum for this group is based two sources: 1. DBT-based parent intervention developed in a research trial at Stanford University (Berk et al., 2021), and 2. A “Parenting Teens with Strong Emotions” group at Seattle Children’s Hospital graciously shared with us by Dr. Kyrill Gurtovenko. In this group, parents will receive training in validation, increasing positive time with their teens, crisis management, and contingency management). This group has both strong didactic and experiential components. During the week, caregivers are asked to watch each lesson that is prerecorded during the week prior to the group. During the group, caregivers will have focused time to both practice the steps of each lesson with behavioral rehearsal as well as discuss barriers they encounter to implementing the skill. Research supports the use of Parent Effectiveness Training to yield positive outcomes (i.e., Berk et al., 2021).
Physical Fitness & Yoga

Physical Fitness & Yoga

Residents will engage in 60-minutes of physical fitness Monday through Friday and will participate in a 60-minute yoga class on Sunday. The RTC is equip with a state-of-the-art cross fit gym and spacious lawn for these activities. Residents will have access to a physical fitness trainer and trauma informed yoga instructor. Research shows that engagement in physical activity (e.g., exercise, yoga) yields positive metal health outcomes (i.e., Biddle & Asare, 2011; Khalsa et al., 2012).
Sleep Hygiene Group

Sleep Hygiene Group

Residents will participate nightly in a sleep hygiene group that is has a brief didactic component and is chiefly experiential in nature. The curriculum for this group is derived from Children’s Hospital Colorado Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program CBT group and the CBT for Insomnia protocol. Residents will learn the fundamental components of sleep hygiene and will engage in behavioral rehearsal of sleep hygiene interventions such as progressive muscle relaxation and self-soothing, and cognitive based strategies for rumination. Research supports the use of sleep hygiene practices yielding positive outcomes for adolescents (i.e., Malone, 2011; Peach et al., 2016).
Close X

Good Neighbor Policy

The Farmhouse supports neighborhood harmony and positive relationships within our community. We understand you, as our neighbors and members of the community, may have concerns about our presence. We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have about our residential DBT treatment centers, the adolescents we serve, and the role we play in helping adolescents and their families.

Our DBT residential treatment center is licensed by the CA Department of Social Services, Facility Number: 306090043. We follow all state and city regulations, planning, and zoning laws. We operate under a Group Home license, which allows us to serve a maximum of six children at one time. This small size, combined with a high staff-client ratio, allows us to provide the oversight, evidence-based care, and safety our youths need. This also allows us to be the best neighbors possible, which means unless you need us, we strive to be invisible neighbors.

Our Professional Team

Our dedicated team is made up of clinically trained, licensed mental health professionals with experience working with adolescents. Our residence has a full-time clinical director, program manager, and a full suite of expert therapists and milieu counselors. We maintain a 3:1 staff to client ratio.

The safety of our clients and our neighbors is the most important thing. Children and adolescents receiving treatment at the Farmhouse are supervised 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by our team of highly qualified professionals. We utilize strict line-of-sight policies, state-of-the-art monitoring technology, and maintain a high staff-to-client ratio. By keeping our clients safe, we keep our neighbors safe.

Who We Treat

We help youth (13-17) struggling with depression and anxiety as their primary problem, as opposed to other programs where substance abuse is the primary focus. Before accepting a client, our admissions team, led by a licensed therapist, completes a thorough review of their history, including all hospital, school, and psychiatric records and relevant documentation. This review allows us to verify that each resident is appropriate for an unlocked environment and do not present a danger to other clients, staff, or the community. Our goal is to equip our youth to understand and manage emotions and develop more effective social interactions.

Our residential DBT center for adolescents focuses on mindfulness, effective communication, and distress tolerance. We teach our teens practical ways to manage stress and regulate their emotions.

Noise, Activity, and the Condition of Our Homes

Our staff is committed to maintaining a safe and tranquil environment that helps young people heal, reconnect with their true selves, rediscover their passions, and develop practical skills that promote long-term recovery. Our residence is unlike adult treatment programs where clients often gather outside, smoke cigarettes, or come and go independently. We enforce a strict no smoking, no alcohol, and no drugs policy.

We also maintain rigorous supervision protocols. Teens are never allowed out of line-of-sight and line-of-hearing. Staff supervise clients when outdoors, during exercise activities, swimming, or playing outdoor games. We keep clients engaged in treatment, treatment-related, or therapeutic activities at all times.

Our program schedules provide daily structure, consisting of therapeutic groups such as yoga, mindful cooking, organic gardening, meditation, and art therapy. We include education and fitness-related activities as well. Our clients do not have excess free time. The recreation time they do have is supervised and typically involves playing cards, board games, journaling, exercising, or doing arts and crafts. Teens also use this time to call their parents or siblings.

We meet and exceed all safety standards required for a typical residential treatment home. We maintain our property to the standards set by each community. Surveillance cameras monitor our properties 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the security of our adolescents and neighbors. We respond immediately to any concerns. We care about our neighbors and instruct our staff to be respectful, mindful, and courteous at all times.

We embrace the motto a good neighbor is an invisible neighbor.

Parking and Traffic

Our residence has ample parking for daily staff. If we hold a public event, we hire a valet. Our core professional staff is on-site between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday, with supervisory staff on-site 24/7.

We do meaningful, important work with our adolescent clients and their families. By being good neighbors in a safe and quiet neighborhood, we make it possible for our teens to get the help they need in a comfortable home environment conducive to growth and recovery.

We welcome any questions, comments, or concerns you have. We are completely transparent about who we are and what we do. If you want to know more, please email us at intake@mycompassnow.com

Before opening a new treatment center, we invite neighbors and community members to meet our local leadership team. We hold an open house and welcome anyone to take a tour and see our residence and grounds. We provide contact information to the facility for day-to-day questions or concerns. We welcome your interest and are happy to address any questions you have. We look forward to participating in good neighbor activities specific to our location.

If there are any questions are concerns, please contact our corporate office at intake@mycompassnow.com or call (888) 265-9114.

Call us today for a free consultation with a counselor: phone icon(888) 265-9114