Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents 2012-2014

General Information

About Alvord, Baker & Associates:  Alvord Baker & Associates, LLC is a unique, caring and innovative therapy practice, serving adults, children, adolescents, families, and couples since 1983. Our practice offers individual therapy as well as therapy for couples, families, and groups. Additional services include psychological evaluations and consultations to schools.   Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a specialty of the practice and has been since its inception.  Alvord Baker & Associates is highly committed to the continuing education of interested mental health professional.  For this reason, we offer four continuing education programs each year, and are now very pleased to add the Training Institute. 

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a set of therapies that are practical and results-oriented, and designed to reduce symptoms and improve a person’s quality of life.   CBT therapies are evidence based and have been proven effective with a multitude of problem areas including, but not limited to: depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and anger management.  Literally hundreds of studies have been conducted that show the efficacy of CBT.  Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC has significant expertise in the provision and teaching of CBT.  For this reason, we are pleased to offer Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents. The curriculum will focus on the use of CBT specifically with children and adolescents, which can be a very engaging and collaborative process that helps young people to take responsibility for their own progress.  Children and teens are encouraged to recognize their own thought patterns, to notice when these patterns are helping and when they are hurting.  CBT emphasizes the connection between feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and teaches coping skills and strategies to address each.  CBT works best when treatment strategies are also practiced outside the therapy room and when developed in collaboration with children, teens, parents, and community professionals (teachers, coaches, etc.). 

Structure and Schedule

The Training Institute’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents will begin in October of 2012 and conclude in June of 2014.   There will be two components: didactic presentations and small group consultation sessions.  Didactic presentations will occur every other month, excluding the summer, over the course of the two years.  Each will be 3 hours and 15 minutes in length, allowing for 3 hours of instruction and a 15 minute break.  They will each start at 8:45 AM and finish at 12:00 PM.  The schedule follows:

Small group consultation sessions will occur during the alternate months, in between the didactic presentations, and will be 90 minutes in length.  No meetings will be scheduled during the months of July and August.  Sessions will be offered at a variety of times, in order to accommodate a wide range of schedules.  Each group will be led by an experienced Alvord Baker & Associates therapist with expertise in CBT. 

Our Instructors

Mary Karapetian Alvord, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and director of Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC, a group practice in MD.  She specializes in the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders using cognitive behavior therapy.  Her particular focus is on building resilience in children and teens through group therapy and she is co-author of Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents and a CD entitled Relaxation and Self-Regulation for Children and Teens.  Currently, Dr. Alvord serves as APA's Public Education Coordinator for the Maryland Psychological Association and is President-Elect Designate for the APA Media Psychology Division.  She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at The George Washington University School of Medicine.  Dr. Alvord was honored as the first recipient of the American Psychological Associations Presidential Innovative Practice Citation.

Erica Berger, LCSW-C, LICSW is a clinical social worker and the coordinator of Alvord Baker & Associates continuing education program.   She provides a broad range of counseling services including individual, family, couples and group therapy. In addition, she has completed the intensive clinical externship program in Family Therapy with the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York. Areas of specialty include: anxiety; depression; family communication; family transitions; adolescent development; adjustment to illness; and bereavement.  Primary treatment modalities include cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy and family systems.  She has worked with children and families coping with disabilities, trauma, and chronic/life threatening illness.    In addition to her direct clinical experience, she has spent more than 12 years offering consultation and supervision to mental health professionals.

Lynn Bufka, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist.  She completed post doctoral training at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University under the supervision of Dr. David Barlow. Her clinical expertise is in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders. In addition to the treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults, Dr. Bufka is interested in issues related to identity development and cross-cultural adaptation and has experience working with these issues with college students and young adults. Other professional interests include evidence based practice, outcomes management, health policy and cross cultural psychology.

Karan Lamb, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist with experience in individual and group psychotherapy.  Dr. Lamb completed her pre-doctoral internship at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn , New York where she worked at the child and adolescent clinic, adult inpatient, and HIV Clinic.  After receiving her doctorate, she worked at the Adele Lebowitz Center for Youth and Family in Washington , DC as an individual and group therapist.  Dr. Lamb has also  worked as a psychologist with the Johns Hopkins University 's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Family Study, interviewing multi-generations of families with OCD.  At Alvord Baker and Associates, Dr. Lamb specializes in the assessment and treatment of ADHD, anxiety and depressive disorders. In addition, she has interest and experience with psychoeducational assessments, social skills groups, and school consultations, for children from pre-school to high school age.  Dr. Lamb is also currently a consulting psychologist to the Auburn School, Silver Spring campus.

Kelly O’Brien, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist.  Dr. O’Brien provides evidence-informed, cognitive-behavioral and family based approaches to the assessment and treatment of child and adolescent anxiety, depression, ADHD, and behavior problems.  Dr. O’Brien has acquired expertise in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an empirically supported treatment for young children with attention and behavior problems. She has provided  mental health services to children, adolescents, and families in a variety of settings including community clinics, schools, pediatric primary care, and hospitals. She has been a therapist for clinical research studies of PCIT and intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Dr. O’Brien is also  a Research Assistant Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Maryland-College Park (UMD) and she is assistant director of the UMD ADHD Program.  

Veronica Raggi, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist.   She completed a pre-doctoral internship at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and postdoctoral training at the New York University Child Study Center, through which she provided a wide range of assessment, treatment and consultation services for children, adolescents and families. She has published in numerous scholarly journals on topics such as academic and homework-related concerns, parenting issues, and school-based treatment of ADHD. Dr. Raggi currently provides individual therapy (child, adolescent, and adult), family therapy, behavioral parent training, school consultation services, and psycho-educational/psychological assessments. She has extensive experience in the application of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches in the treatment of child and adolescent anxiety (including selective mutism), social skills deficits, depression, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, academic problems, and organizational skills deficits. She also has interest and experience in the provision of family therapy to address conflict, communication, and relationship issues.

Jessica Samson, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist.   She has background and expertise in providing individual and family therapy to children and adolescents with a wide range of psychopathology in inpatient and  outpatient treatment settings. During her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Samson had extensive experience in providing cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) to children and adolescents with anxiety and tic disorders. Additional clinical experiences include conducting psychological evaluations and group therapy with children and adolescents with specific interests in the treatment of disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders; divorce and separation; and the dissemination of evidence-based treatments in communities with diverse backgrounds.

Lisa Sanchez, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and Director of Research at Alvord Baker & Associates.   Her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral experience at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, provided a broad range of experiences including individual therapy, assessment of children with executive functioning disorders, and assessment of young children with developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders. As part of her training, she also completed a fellowship in the Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program. At Alvord, Baker, & Associates, Dr. Sanchez continues to provide treatment and testing services for children of all ages. Her intervention approach is guided by cognitive behavioral and family systems theory. Specific services include a behavioral therapy program for socially anxious/shy children, parent training programs for children with disruptive behaviors, and comprehensive neurodevelopmental evaluations for toddlers and preschool age children who are suspected of having an autism spectrum disorder.   

Bonnie Zucker, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist with background and expertise in psychotherapy with adults, adolescents, and children.   Dr. Zucker's areas of interest include: individual, family, couples, and group therapy; treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD and learning problems, emotional and behavioral problems, social skills training, relationship & self-esteem issues, and sexual abuse & sexual reactivity; and psycho-educational assessments. Dr. Zucker is the author of Anxiety-Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Children, Take Control of OCD: The Ultimate Guide for Kids with OCD, and the co-author of Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents: Enhancing Social Competence and Self-Regulation (A Cognitive-Behavioral Group Approach)  and Relaxation and Self-Regulation Techniques for Children and Teens: Mastering the Mind Body Connection (audio CD). Her books and CD are all based on the cognitive-behavioral approach. Dr. Zucker is also active in training other mental health professionals on the treatment of anxiety disorders in children and adults.

Additional Information

Continuing Education / Certificates: Participants will receive a continuing education certificate for each didactic presentation and, depending on their licensure, may be able to earn credits as well for consultation groups.   Participants who have completed at least 75% of the institute training hours will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the two-year institute. 

Cost:  The cost of participation is $1600. An installment plan is available (5 payments of $320.00 each over one year).  The fee covers attendance at all 10 didactic presentations (30 hours), plus 9 small group consultation sessions (13.5 hours) for a total of 43.5 hours.  (Refreshments will be included for each didactic presentation.)

Who May Attend:  We invite licensed mental health professionals with at least 2 years of post-graduate experience to attend the Institute.  In order to participate in small group consultation, it is also expected that all participants are currently working in some professional capacity with children and/or adolescents.

Location:  All didactic presentations will be offered at the Rockville office of Alvord Baker & Associates, LLC, located at 3200 Tower Oaks Boulevard, Suite 200, Rockville, MD 20852.  Consultation groups will be offered in both Alvord Baker & Associates’ offices, allowing participants to choose the more convenient location.  The Silver Spring office address is located at 11161 New Hampshire Avenue, Suite 307, Silver Spring, MD 20904.

Contact:  If you are interested in participating, you are welcome to fill out the attached registration form.  If you would like additional information, please call our Continuing Education Coordinator, Erica Berger, LCSW-C, at (301)593-6554 ext. 27 or e-mail her at eberger@alvordbaker.com.

Application and Registration

Download and print information with registration form, please click here.

To register online, click EventBrite.