Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) is a broad description for a range of empirically supported treatments designed to help parents who are struggling to manage behavioral and/or emotional difficulties with their youth. Although the youth’s behavior is the focal point of the intervention, the treatment is focused on helping parents or caregivers learn more effective strategies for interacting with their youth. Many parents come in for treatment completely overwhelmed and unsure about where to start in changing their youth’s behavior. BPT helps parents figure out what problems to tackle, in what order, and how to address them more effectively.

NCFWC offers a BPT program put together by its colleagues at Triangle Area Psychology (TAP) Clinic in Durham, NC. BPT is a a short-term (12-15 sessions) treatment that helps parents learn validation and communication strategies, the principles of behavior management, and how to establish a behavioral contract and reward system. The BPT program designed by TAP, relies most heavily on Barkley and Robin’s (2014) Defiant Teens protocol, which has considerable empirical support for youth with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Because we treat a significant number of youth at who struggle with pervasive emotion dysregulation, including suicidal and self-harming behaviors, lessons from DBT-A are also integrated into this BPT curriculum. Importantly, the age of the youth does not matter – BPT can be helpful for parents of toddlers, teenagers, or transition age youth (young adults) who are having difficulties achieving independence. 

This BPT program is open to any family interested in learning more about effective parenting strategies – the youth is not required to be an NCFWC client.