Seeking Safety for Adolescents currently has a provisional rating for the 60 days between: May 16, 2012 and July 15, 2012. If you would like to respond to the Scientific Rating, please submit feedback via the Contact Us page.

The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Seeking Safety for Adolescents program has been rated by the CEBC in the areas of: Substance Abuse Treatment (Adolescent) and Trauma Treatment (Child & Adolescent).

• Types of Maltreatment: Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Exposure to Domestic Violence
• Target Population: Adolescents with a history of trauma and/or substance abuse.

Seeking Safety was originally designed for adults and has been rated by the CEBC in the area of Substance Abuse Treatment (Adult). Seeking Safety for Adolescents is a present-focused, coping skills therapy to help people attain safety from trauma and/or substance abuse. The treatment is available as a book, providing both client handouts and clinician guidelines. The treatment may be conducted in group or individual format for adolescents (both females, and males) in various settings (e.g., outpatient, inpatient, residential, home care, and schools). Seeking Safety for Adolescents consists of 25 topics that can be conducted in any order and number. Examples of topics are Safety, Asking for Help, Setting Boundaries in Relationships, Healthy Relationships, Community Resources, Compassion, Creating Meaning, Discovery, Recovery Thinking, Taking Good Care of Yourself, Commitment, Coping with Triggers, Self-Nurturing, Red and Green Flags, and Life Choices.

The key principles of Seeking Safety for Adolescents are:

• Safety as the overarching goal (helping clients attain safety in their relationships, thinking, behavior, and emotions)
• Integrated treatment (working on both PTSD and substance abuse at the same time)
• A focus on ideals to counteract the loss of ideals in both PTSD and substance abuse
• Four content areas: cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, and case management
• Attention to clinician processes (helping clinicians work on countertransference, self-care, and other issues)

Seeking Safety for Adolescents offers 25 treatment topics, each with a clinician guide and client handouts.

The seven interpersonal topics are:

• Asking for Help
• Honesty
• Setting Boundaries in Relationships
• Healthy Relationships
• Community Resources
• Healing from Anger
• Getting Others to Support Your Recovery

The seven behavioral topics are:

• Detaching from Emotional Pain: Grounding
• Taking Good Care of Yourself
• Red and Green Flags
• Commitment
• Coping with Triggers
• Respecting Your Time
• Self-Nurturing

The seven cognitive topics are:

• PTSD: Taking Back Your Power
• Compassion
• When Substances Control You
• Recovery Thinking
• Integrating the Split Self
• Creating Meaning
• Discovery

In addition, four combination topics are:

• Introduction to Treatment / Case Management
• Safety
• The Life Choices Game (Review)
• Termination

Seeking Safety for Adolescents was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Trauma and/or substance abuse.

Age range: 12 – 17

Developmental Delays:

This program was not developed for children with developmental delays, and has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Seeking Safety for Adolescents was not designed with a parent/caregiver component.

Seeking Safety for Adolescents was designed to be conducted in a group setting; but has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended group size:

2 to 50 people.

Recommended Intensity:

The length and pacing of sessions are flexible: some programs conduct 1 hour once per week, others 1.5 hours twice a week, etc. The goal is to provide whatever is feasible in the setting.

Recommended Duration:

The model was designed for a high level of flexibility for different settings, clients, and clinicians. The model can be conducted as long or short as time allows. For example, if it's conducted twice per week it will take about three months. If all of the topics are done once per week, it would take about six months. However, one does not have to do all of the topics – any number can be done, based on time available.

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Community Agency
• Hospital
• Outpatient Clinic
• Residential Care Facility
• School

Seeking Safety for Adolescents includes a homework component:

Clients are asked to make a "commitment" of one thing they'll do for their recovery prior to the next session (essentially homework); however, it is optional.

Seeking Safety for Adolescents has materials available in languages other than English:

Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Swedish

For information on which materials are available in these languages, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

There are no space/room/AV requirements. The only things needed are copies of the program materials, which can be photocopied from the book by the clinician for use with his/her clients.

No specific degree or experience is required. Any clinician can conduct the program. It has been done by social workers, psychologists, nurses, case managers, emergency workers, domestic violence advocates, paraprofessionals, mental health counselors, substance abuse counselors, and even has been done in peer-led version.

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Seeking Safety
  www.seekingsafety.org
  info@seekingsafety.org
  phone: (617) 299-1620

Training is obtained:

Flexible; a typical training is either 1 day, 1.5 days, or 2 days, but any length is possible.

Training Videos: www.seekingsafety.org (Order section) Note: Training is not required, but can be very helpful to teach staff how to implement the model, etc. The training can be focused on adolescent treatment, when desired by an agency – and in which case, focus is on videos, examples, and materials relevant to adolescent treatment.

Number of days/hours:

(a) Onsite training is common; and there is no limit on the number of attendees, so some programs set up a training and invite others from the region to attend. Training associates are available throughout the country, please contact through website.

(b) Training videos are also an option.

(c) Phone consultation is also possible.

This program is rated a "3 - Promising Research Evidence" on the Scientific Rating Scale based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The practice must have at least one study utilizing some form of control (e.g., untreated group, placebo group, matched wait list study) establishing the practice's benefit over the placebo, or found it to be comparable to or better than an appropriate comparison practice. Please see the Scientific Rating Scale for more information.

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being