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SearchWomen's Trauma Program
Lifeskills South Florida
1431 SW 9th Ave | Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
About Our Specialized Program
In response to a growing need, Lifeskills South Florida offers nationally recognized dialectical behavior therapy and trauma treatment for adult women (18+) in their specialized Women’s Trauma Program. This unique program focuses on individual struggles with trauma and other related mental health diagnoses in a gender-specific, safe, and therapeutic environment.
Why Choose Lifeskills?
At the Women’s Trauma Program and at all Lifeskills locations, we are committed to providing a supportive, integrative, multi-disciplinary approach to address a variety of complex clinical presentations. Based on the clinical assessments conducted by our masters-level admissions professionals, Lifeskills offers a diverse range of treatment options tailored to individual needs.
What Makes Our Program Different?
DBT Expertise
Our program consists of a 13-week DBT-adherent curriculum along with additional trauma-related process groups. We have around-the-clock staffing and DBT-trained clinicians on call for emerging needs.
Collaborative Approach
Our caring professionals partner with each client, their loved ones, and their community providers to design an individualized care plan that utilizes a comprehensive approach to treatment and addresses their specific mental health condition. Each client has a dedicated primary therapist and a dedicated family therapist.
Clinical Outcomes
As a National Center of Clinical Excellence, Lifeskills is a leading authority whose treatment outcomes consistently outpace the industry. Using the Short Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT), which measures PTSD symptom change over time, our clients experienced an average 67% reduction in symptom severity in 2022.
Learn more about the specialized treatment provided in our Women's Trauma Program
What We Treat
- Anxiety disorders
- Borderline personality disorder (and other personality disorders)
- Dissociative disorders
- Interpersonal relationships
- Maladaptive behaviors
- Suicidal thoughts
- Self-harming
behaviors - Trauma & post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
How We Treat
We develop individualized recovery plans for each client, including specific skills, therapies, and pathways that best fit their needs and diagnosis. Our staff is intensively trained in all therapies and groups listed below, giving our clients the best chance of sustained recovery.
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) pathway & radically open DBT (RO-DBT)
- Trauma pathway
- Cognitive processing therapy (CPT)
- Eye movement desensitization & reprocessing (EMDR)
- Seeking safety
- Exposure and response prevention (ERP)
- Family support program
- Grief & loss therapy
- Nutrition therapy
- Yoga & meditation therapy
- Metabolic fitness pathway
Voices from Our Community
– Grateful Clinical Partner
– Grateful Clinical Partner
Program Components
- An encouraging, home-like, and healing small milieu with 24/7 nursing staff supervision on its private section of the Lifeskills campus. With a focus on balance and healing, the campus permits separation without isolation. The property also includes areas for reflection, outdoor walking paths, sitting areas, patios, and water features.
- A comprehensive 13-week DBT-adherent curriculum with additional trauma-related process groups.
- A group therapy curriculum focuses on social skills training, interpersonal effectiveness, reading cues, increasing motivation, expressive arts, and cognitive remediation.
- A focus on health and body utilizing structured psychoeducation regarding activities of daily living (ADLs), including hygiene, medication compliance, sleep hygiene, and nutrition; yoga guided by professionals; culinary arts; and metabolic fitness.
- Psychiatric evaluation, with weekly follow-up appointments and increased pharmacologic appointments as needed, with the psychiatrist.
- A board-certified internal medicine and primary care physician is on-site to manage medical concerns and provide nursing support.
- A specifically assigned clinical primary therapist for individualized treatment planning, individual sessions, and support.
- A specifically assigned family therapist for family support and clinical family sessions.
- A behavioral aspect of the program includes outside activities and rewards for celebrating even the smallest of victories.
“Lifeskills has a long history of working with trauma, borderline personality disorders, and other complex conditions, along with clinicians who are extensively trained in DBT. We’ve seen a growing need for gender-specific programming for these conditions and developed a clinically superior program combined with a safe environment specific for women to maximize their recovery potential.”
- Despina Karfis, PsyD, DBT-Intensively Trained, EMDR-Trained
Lead Therapist for the Women's Trauma Program