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Learn specific interventions for using DBT with families
Presented by Dr. Kativa Ajmere & Dr. Haleh Kouchmeshki
2 CEs available
Free for Marin CAMFT members and reciprocal chapter members!
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PLEASE NOTE: After you sign up here, you'll be sent instructions on how to complete a separate registration step with Zoom, which is how you will get your Zoom link. You can do that in advance, or right before the meeting begins. This lets us more accurately track attendance in the Zoom meeting for our compliance purposes as a CE provider.
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Workshop Description
This 90-minute interactive training is designed for Marriage and Family Therapists who are looking to deepen their clinical toolkit with skills-based interventions rooted in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). While DBT is often seen as a protocol for individual treatment, this workshop reframes its core
elements—emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness—as powerful, flexible tools that can be applied systemically in family therapy.
Through a blend of real-time practice, clinical case integration, and reflective discussion, participants will learn how to coach both parents and teens using DBT-informed language and structure. We’ll explore what it means to co-regulate in session, how to teach boundary-setting and validation without shame, and how therapists can ground themselves using DBT skills during emotionally intense family work. Participants will leave with a practical skill set, sample scripts, and accessible tools they can bring into session the very next day.
Educational Goals
This training will cover the application of core DBT skills in family and couples therapy, to increase the confidence of therapists when coaching parents and teens through dysregulation. The training will show how to use DBT-informed tools to support clearer communication and boundary-setting. The instructions will guide participants on how to reflect on their own emotional regulation during family conflict, and they will leave with adaptable language and strategies for real-world clinical use.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
- Identify and describe the core components of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and analyze their relevance to systemic family therapy frameworks.
- Apply at least three DBT skills (e.g., DEAR MAN, Wise Mind, ABC PLEASE) within the context of parent-teen interactions to support emotional regulation, promote assertive communication, and facilitate effective boundary-setting.
- Demonstrate techniques for coaching DBT skills to multiple members of a family system, with specific attention to adapting approaches based on developmental stages and cultural considerations.
- Utilize DBT-informed language in-session to validate emotional experiences and redirect dysregulated behavior using structured interventions.
- Reflect on the therapist’s role in modeling self-regulation and managing countertransference during emotionally intense family sessions by employing DBT tools such as STOP and TIP.
- Develop and implement a plan to integrate at least one DBT-based intervention into their own clinical work within the following week, and evaluate its effectiveness in practice.
- Assess and modify DBT interventions to ensure they are responsive to the needs of diverse client identities, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and immigration status, with particular attention to the experiences of marginalized populations in family systems work.
Presenters Dr. Kavita Ajmere and Dr. Haleh Kouchmeshki
Dr. Kavita Ajmere is a licensed psychologist and coach who is widely recognized as an expert on adolescent health. As the former Director of Counseling Services at Harvard Westlake in Los Angeles, she works with students from various socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Dr. Ajmere's passion for working with teens is evident in her use of DBT and CBT approaches. Her certification as a yoga instructor further demonstrates her understanding of the mind-body connection, making her clients feel valued and understood.
Dr. Haleh Kouchmeshki or “Dr. K” as the students call her, is currently both the learning specialist and counselor at Vistamar School. As both a clinical psychologist and educational therapist, she has extensive experience in working with children, teens and young adults through the lens of school counselor, learning specialist, and in her role as a private practice clinician.
Specifically, after years of training toward a future in neuropsychology, she realized that she wanted to become more involved in the treatment as opposed to the diagnostic side of helping her clients/students. As such, she went on to pursue specialized training in various efficacious therapeutic modalities including CBT, DBT, and thinkSMART, which is an EF skills based group out of UCLA. As a certified yoga practitioner, she integrates mindfulness practices into her work - recognizing the value of being in the present moment, especially in today’s fast-paced, social media driven world.
PLEASE NOTE: By registering for this event you are consenting to a recording being made which may include your voice and/or image. By registering for this event, you are agreeing for your likeliness to possibly be used by Marin CAMFT.
Also, while this event will be produced as an on-demand program, those programs are managed separately and sold through a different platform. Registering for this Zoom training does not include access to any recording or an on-demand version. If you cannot attend "live" on the training date listed here, please do not register for this Zoom training, and instead, check Marin CAMFT On-Demand for the recorded program at a later date.
You will be sent instructions on how to register with Zoom to get your personal Zoom link to use for attendance. Please read the email confirmation you receive after signing up on the Marin CAMFT website for these instructions.
Attendance at the live event in full and completion of the evaluation at the end qualifies for 2 hours of Continuing Education (2 CEUs).
Date: Friday, October 10
Time: 12:00 to 2:00 pm Pacific
Cost: Free for Marin CAMFT members and reciprocal members, $30 for non-members.
Location: Online via Zoom. Instructions for registering with Zoom, in order to receive your Personal Zoom Join Link, will be sent in your confirmation message from Marin CAMFT. You will need to complete that second Zoom-registration step in order to receive your Zoom Link by email.
Additional Information about Marin CAMFT CE Programs
For more information about the Friday Continuing Education Series or about joining the Marin CAMFT Continuing Education Committee, please contact our Director of Programs Norman Hering.
- Continuing Education: This workshop meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LEPs and/or LPCCs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. These CEs will be provided by Marin CAMFT (CAMFT Provider # 56895), which is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs. We regret that at this time we are not able to provide CE units for Licensed Psychologists. Participants must attend the full duration of the program (on Zoom, or in person, per event details above) and complete the course evaluation to receive the CE completion certificate. Marin CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. Contact our Director of Programs for more information.
- Continuing Education Goal: Marin CAMFT is committed to offering continuing education courses to train LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs to treat any client in an ethically and clinically sound manner based upon current accepted standards of practice.
- Refund Policy: Our refund policy requires a $20 processing fee, and we must be notified in advance of the event if you would like to cancel. We do not provide refunds in case of non-attendance by the registrant. Please contact our Director of Programs with any questions.
- Request for Accommodations: If you need accommodations for this event, please contact the Director of Programs.
- Grievance Procedure: Marin CAMFT will respond to complaints in a reasonable, ethical and timely manner, when submitted by program attendees in writing to the Director of Programs.
- Anti-Discrimination Policy: Marin CAMFT shall not discriminate against any individual or group with respect to any service, program or activity based on gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, creed, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, ability, or other prohibited basis. Marin CAMFT does not require attendees to adhere to any particular religion or creed in order to participate in training. Marin CAMFT will not promote or advocate for a single modality of treatment that is discriminatory or likely to harm clients based on current accepted standards or practice.
Continuing education credits are available for attendance in the Zoom presentation. You must stay on the Zoom meeting for the entirety of the training and complete the course evaluation afterward in order to receive a completion certificate. Because of the requirement to attend the training in full, if you attempt to log in to the Zoom late, after the training is already underway, you may not be admitted. Please log onto the event promptly at the listed start time.
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