DNA-V for
Young People
An introduction to DNA-V
Learn an accessible model based on acceptance and commitment therapy and positive psychology, and gain developmental tools for working effectively with adolescents and young adults, through 7 modules of video instruction, written exercises, demonstrations, and more.
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Help Young People Build the Skills to Thrive
How to more successfully engage young clients, harness their strengths, and help them build lifelong skills using DNA-V
A letter from Dr. Louise Hayes and Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi
Working with young people is both immensely challenging and inspiring.
They’re naturally inclined to meet life with passion, seek out new experiences and ideas, and are unafraid to break the mold.
At times, this fervor might dismay the adults in their lives… But it also means the right intervention can cause an immediate shift in their understanding of what’s possible.
Even a single sentence can have positive impacts for years down the track.
It can give a young person a foothold in pursuing their dreams, the faith to believe in themselves when they feel no one else does, or the strength to stay the course when the road gets rough.
If you’re lucky, you’ve seen this amazing capacity for change in your own work.
It’s a testament to the surging potential that exists in all of our interactions with young people.
But, of course, when we dig deeper, we see that success requires more than a “perfectly” worded sentence…
It requires fostering a young person’s trust, willingness to change, and skills to persevere — things that, for many mental health practitioners, are much harder to cultivate.
Bridging The Divide Between Us And Young People
The stakes are high when working with young populations.
From the data, we know that early years are a crucial intervention point for promoting lifelong physical and mental health.
We've also seen that young people experience some of the highest rates of mental health issues among any age group—a reality that has worsened in recent years.
Luckily, having an interested, supportive adult in the picture is a powerful moderating factor during development.
But without the right tools for intervening, even the most caring mental health practitioners can struggle to get through to young people and help them navigate life in an effective way.
Their interventions can induce eye-rolling or blank stares.
The dynamic often feels clinical and lacks energy.
They get caught up in the crisis of the day, or hemmed into protocols for a specific “problem” behavior or symptom.
And, meanwhile, the chance to make a lasting difference slips by.
This disconnect isn’t a result of simply needing more confidence or experience — even practiced clinicians have interactions like this.
It’s an indication that we need to reevaluate the way we work with young people altogether.
The Missing Link In Our Methods
Considering how critical early years are, it’s strange that so few therapeutic models provide appropriate tools for addressing this stage of life.
By and large, our methods are based on adult behavior.
They are not designed to speak to the inner lives of young people or to help us understand how people actually grow into healthy, successful adults.
As a result, many common adolescent behaviors involving risk taking or emotionality are seen as anomalies. Instead of being recognized for what they are — typical aspects of development — they tend to be viewed as merely impulsive or problematic because they don’t map onto “normal” behavior as defined by adults.
So, in our desire to help, we often encourage them to tamp down their emotions, take fewer risks, and prioritize the future.
In other words, we ask them to be less like themselves.
From that space, is it really surprising that we have trouble engaging clients or motivating change?
Shifting Focus From “Problems” To Skills
As you can imagine, if we try to solve this challenge simply by adjusting the language of our adult-based methods, we’re missing something important.
What we need is a new way of relating to the experiences of young people that directly appreciates their developmental context and takes a more positive view of their traits.
This is not to suggest that adolescent behaviors or symptoms are never a cause for concern or shouldn’t be addressed in therapy.
Far from it.
But when we make “problems” the biggest thing in the room, we push young people away, confirm their belief that we want to control them or don’t understand, and can cause them to dig in their heels.
Even when this approach seems to “work,” it can come at the cost of important skills.
We can unintentionally instill inflexible habits like running from difficult experiences, fearing mistakes, and deferring to someone else’s instruction when challenges arise.
In the right context, young people’s passion, desire to test the world, and ability to live in the moment can be enormous strengths.
Instead of suppressing these qualities, we’re more effective when we redirect them into healthier forms of expression.
In this way, we can not only make our work more engaging for young people but can also help them develop lifelong skills for more flexibly meeting challenges and leading meaningful, vibrant lives.
3 Steps To Creating A Context
For Meaningful Change
Now, what does all of this mean in practical terms?
How can we create an environment that holds young people’s interest and plays to their strengths — all while simultaneously helping them build lasting skills?
After years of research and clinical experience focused on young people, we’ve identified three critical steps we can take to gain young people’s trust, harness their passion and curiosity, and help them engage with the world in a more adaptive way:
Validate and normalize their experience
When we validate young people, we build trust with them
Validate and normalize their experience
Times of transition, like adolescence or going to university, can be stressful as young people find their new place in the world. This can in turn lead to behaviors that might seem especially worrying, like fighting, underage drinking, or self-harm.
It’s common for the adults in their lives to try to convince young people that their thoughts or reactions are unsound.
Sending the message that we should, or even can, push challenging emotions or thoughts away can create a very stilted relationship in which the adult passes judgment on a young person’s behavior and tells them what to do.
In that kind of environment, we don’t only lose their interest — we lose their trust.
Instead, one of the first things we should do when working with a young person is help them see that difficult thoughts and emotions are normal and that we aren’t judging their reactions as weird or “bad.”
The impact of this simple change can be immense. When we respect young people’s experiences instead of trying to discount them, we create a dynamic where they’re more trusting and open. From there, we can more easily help them see other options for responding to challenging experiences beyond the behaviors that immediately present themselves.
In this way, we can help young people feel less alone and more understood, and help them discover new ways for responding to life’s stresses that will better serve them now and in the future.
Focus on what matters to them personally
Young people are used to having priorities like grades, family obligations, and extracurriculars given to them by well-meaning adults, but they’re rarely encouraged to engage with their own values in a serious way.
This well-worn dynamic where young people are told (either directly or indirectly) that they’re too young to know what’s important can encourage them to take a passive stance in life. It can also make them feel like they aren’t being considered. And, meanwhile, their innate passion can go undirected and find unhelpful means of expression.
From a therapeutic standpoint, taking this approach often results in a clinical relationship in which it’s very hard to motivate change.
If we instead show interest in young people’s personal values and make them central to therapy, we can flip the script and encourage them to view life in a more active way. This approach brings a tangible sense of energy into the room and makes young people much more willing to try new behaviors and stick with them even when they encounter obstacles.
It also gives young people a framework for thinking about the direction they want to take in life rather than sending the message that they need to wait until they’re older to find out who they want to be.
Focus on what matters to them personally
Learn what matters to your client and they will become an active participant in the work
Give them more agency
Empower young people to use their own values
Give them more agency
Adults often think they need to make decisions for young people to prevent them from making dire mistakes. That includes mental health practitioners!
There are certainly times when an adult perspective is necessary. But young people have many virtues that we sometimes neglect in our adult lives, like building strong friendships, exploring new things and ideas, and living with passion.
To create a more collaborative and engaging therapeutic environment, we need to let go of the idea that we have all the answers and start giving young people more autonomy in treatment.
We can do this even in simple ways, including by pitching exercises and new behaviors as experiments and getting more experiential in sessions. This ensures that we are speaking to their curiosity and also giving them the space to learn for themselves, rather than telling them about their own inner experience. We can also teach young people how to judge for themselves whether behaviors or strategies help them pursue their values, so they will be better equipped in the future to make choices consistent with the life they want to lead.
This doesn’t just decenter the teacher-student context that we can sometimes fall into — it also speaks to young people’s curiosity and helps them become more aware of the choices that exist in everyday life.
In that way, we’re doing more than simply steering them around an obstacle at a given time. We’re helping them develop skills they can use in the real world to grow and thrive.
As you can see, the key to working with young people involves more than simply modifying the language of our adult-oriented models.
What’s needed is a unified therapeutic framework that accounts directly for how humans grow and helps us work with that instead of against it.
DNA-V
A Model for Meeting Young People Where They Are
DNA-V is an accessible, skills-based therapeutic model with foundations in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and positive psychology. By also integrating developmental psychology, attachment theory, and evidence-based behavior change therapies, it gives us a practical method for helping young people grow and thrive.
The model centers on important underlying processes, or skills, that young people can strengthen and use to move about the world in a purposeful, flexible way. We represent these skills with three metaphorical roles:
Discoverer
Our ability to explore the world around us by trying new things and learning through trial and error, especially when our current actions aren’t serving us.
Noticer
The capacity to allow and be aware of our experience — including both good and bad emotions, thoughts, and sensations — without judging or immediately reacting.
Adviser
The “voice” in our head that helps us solve problems and is informed by past experiences, language, and shared social knowledge.
Developing our ability to use each of these skills, as well as to flexibly move between them even under stressful circumstances, is an important way to nurture our Values, or things that bring meaning and Vitality into our lives.
The accessible structure of DNA-V makes it intuitive not only for practitioners but for young people themselves. It gives them insight into their own minds and a framework for exploring more adaptive ways of being, no matter their external circumstances.
In this way, the model allows us to give young people lasting skills that will help them make healthier and more meaningful choices not just in youth but throughout life.
Learning This Method
As the creators of this model, we teach workshops all over the world on how to use DNA-V to help young people flexibly meet life’s challenges.
Because it is a process-based model, DNA-V can be used to address almost any issue, from the classroom to the therapy room.
This allows you to take a more flexible approach and customize your work to specific clients. It also means the model can be easily incorporated with other methodologies, making it a very useful solution for professionals from a variety of backgrounds.
To that end, we’re excited to make the training more broadly available to mental health clinicians, teachers, guidance counselors, or anyone who wants to help young people develop lifelong skills, in this self-paced online course.
Inside, we’ll teach you all about the DNA-V model as well as a set of practical tools specifically designed to achieve results with 12- to 24-year-olds. Everything you’ll learn is evidence-based and has exhibited its ability to help us be more successful with this population.
We hope you’ll read on to learn how the course can help you create a context for engaging, collaborative interactions that have a lasting impact on the lives of young people.
About the Trainers
Dr. Louise Hayes and Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi are psychologists and leading experts on the topic of developing psychological strength and flexibility in children and adolescents. Together, they created DNA-V, an accessible model for applying acceptance, mindfulness, and positive psychology principles with young people.
In addition to publishing numerous clinical trials and scientific articles, Dr. Hayes and Dr. Ciarrochi have co-authored seminal books about helping young people grow and thrive, including Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens, The Thriving Adolescent, and Your Life Your Way.
They have led workshops all over the world teaching mental health professionals, teachers, parents, and others how to make a bigger difference in the lives of young people.
About the Trainers
Dr. Louise Hayes and Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi are clinical psychologists and leading experts on the topic of developing psychological strength and flexibility in children and adolescents. Together, they created DNA-V, an accessible model for applying acceptance, mindfulness, and positive psychology principles with young people.
In addition to publishing numerous clinical trials and scientific articles, Dr. Hayes and Dr. Ciarrochi have co-authored seminal books about helping young people grow and thrive, including Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens, The Thriving Adolescent, and Your Life Your Way.
They have led workshops all over the world teaching mental health professionals, teachers, parents, and others how to make a bigger difference in the lives of young people.
Introducing…
DNA-V for Young People
Learn how to engage and empower young people using DNA-V, a therapeutic model created by Dr. Louise Hayes and Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi, leading experts in using acceptance, mindfulness, and positive interventions.
Inside the 7 modules of this course, you’ll learn practical theory and tools based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), developmental science, and positive psychology principles that speak directly to the needs of adolescents and young adults. Through video instruction, exercises, and unscripted demonstrations with groups and individuals, the trainers will teach you the accessible DNA-V model and show you firsthand how to use it to vitalize your work.
After completing the course, you’ll be prepared to more successfully engage young people and help them build the skills they need to grow and thrive.
Course Format
DNA-V for Young People is an on-demand online course.
The 7 modules will be released on a weekly schedule, and you can complete the material any time throughout the week, as your schedule permits. Since you will have lifetime access to all course content, you’re also welcome to work through the modules more gradually or revisit them at any time in the future.
The course combines pre-recorded teaching videos and audio recordings, written materials and unscripted demonstrations with young people in both individual and group settings that show you how to use DNA-V in real time.
These demonstrations will help you immediately view the concepts and theory in practical terms. You will also be encouraged to participate in experiential exercises in order to deepen your understanding of the tools and model as well as how they might land with clients.
Course content and materials are in English, including the quizzes, which will be conducted at the end of each module and will cumulatively serve as the CE-required post-test. All videos will include subtitle options in English and Spanish.
Course Structure
From the very first week of this course, you’ll gain tools you can use right away to engage clients and help them build important skills. You’ll also see exercises and concepts demonstrated with real young people and one parent from the start.
In Module 1, you’ll learn about the developmental and theoretical foundations behind DNA-V and how they can help you better understand young people’s behavior. You’ll also learn how to use a key application tool: the DNA-V disk.
Module 2 will focus on values and vitality, the heart of the model, and how to approach them effectively with young people.
In modules 3 through 5, you’ll dig into each of the other core processes in DNA-V: Adviser, Noticer, and Discoverer. During these modules, you’ll gain a deep understanding of each process and how to help young people use them flexibly to build lives of meaning and vitality.
Then, for Module 6, you’ll gain an understanding of how DNA-V skills can be used to help young people develop a flexible self-view that allows them to grow and persevere.
The course concludes with Module 7, where you’ll focus on how DNA-V skills are impacted by, and in turn impact, the social world around us.
Throughout the course, you’ll gain tools and techniques that will allow you to…
- Create more engaging therapeutic environments by using language, concepts, and exercises that resonate with young people and can be customized to clients’ situations
- Build trusting, collaborative relationships and get more buy-in when asking clients to try new things or explore what’s important to them
- Gain a better understanding of adolescent behavior and how to harness clients’ innate curiosity and passion into more adaptive ways of thinking and acting
- Shift focus from problems to what your clients care about, and help them build the skills to pursue what matters even in the face of challenges
- See immediate shifts in young people’s understanding of what’s possible and how they can have more agency in creating a life they want
Curriculum
Module 1: Introduction to DNA-V
- Get acquainted with the model and its theoretical and evidence-based underpinnings
- Gain a key application tool, the DNA-V disk, and see it used in a sample session
- Learn why determining the function of a client’s behavior is more effective than challenging the beliefs behind the behavior
- Explore the 3 different contexts in which you can work with young clients
- See an example of how to complete a case conceptualization, and practice completing your own based on your personal experience
Module 2: Values and Vitality
- Participate in an eyes-closed experiential exercise (which you can also use with young people) that illustrates two very different approaches to life
- What values are, how they differ from goals and outcomes, and how affirming them can impact a young person’s life
- Learn how to make values an important part of your DNA-V work from the first session
- Discover how values are influenced by development and social contexts
- See different techniques demonstrated to help young people and a father get in touch with their values in life
Module 3: Noticer
- Get acquainted with our Noticer skill and how our learning history influences it
- Examine the importance of normalizing difficult emotions instead of suppressing them
- How to encourage adaptive self-soothing skills and address self-harming coping strategies
- Gain tools for helping young people get in touch with their experience and create space around their emotions instead of reacting automatically
- Link Noticer skills to our sense of self and our experience as part of a social world
- Complete exercises to put what you’ve learned into practice
Module 4: Adviser
- Learn how our problem-solving inner voice is shaped by our personal contexts
- Explore the role of language in informing our Adviser through relational frame theory (using simple examples)
- Discover new techniques for helping young people understand their Adviser and engage flexibly with it instead of trying to change negative thoughts
- How our Adviser informs our view of ourselves and the way we act in social situations
- Receive a set of simple interventions aimed at building skill in this area, and see them demonstrated with young people
Module 5: Discoverer
- Take a deep dive into our ability to try new things and expand our lives through action
- How play, risk taking, and sensation seeking relate to our Discoverer, and how to encourage adaptive forms of this skill
- Discuss why acting in new ways is so difficult and how we can help young people overcome that barrier
- Explore different exercises you can use with young people to help them become more curious and skillful Discoverers and see a selection used in demonstrations
- Learn how to use “tracking” to give you and young people a better understanding of their behavior
- What willingness is, and how to fuel it even when motivation is low
Module 6: Self-view
- Examine how DNA-V skills can help us develop a more flexible view of ourselves
- How to help young people see the “self” as something that’s dynamic and created rather than a fixed entity, so they’re more open to the possibility of change
- Why self-compassion is so important when exercising our DNA-V skills (especially our Discoverer) and how to cultivate it
- Gain exercises to help young people take a broader perspective of themselves, their behavior, and their abilities
Module 7: Social View
- Discuss why social connection is so important
- Learn about how a young person’s social context during development shapes their DNA-V skills, through the lens of attachment theory
- See an exercise demonstrated to help young people explore their options for action when facing challenging social situations (like, for example, bullying)
- Acquire resources on how to build strong friendships — a key component of development and of life
- How to apply DNA-V principles in social groups
Course Sample
The video content for this course was filmed using the most up-to-date recording equipment. This allowed us to produce a training experience of the highest visual and audio quality, which you can sample in the video below.
In these excerpts from the course, you’ll learn about the developmental significance of our problem-solving inner voices (our “Advisers”) as well as a few exercises for introducing this concept to young people.
Supplemental Materials
In addition to the 7 core modules, this course also includes supplementary learning materials to reinforce what you’ve learned and help you get even more from it.
Bonus #1: Adapting DNA-V: Info Sheet Bundle
Receive the Adapting DNA-V Info Sheet Bundle
Bonus #1: Adapting DNA-V: Info Sheet Bundle
As a process-based model, DNA-V can be used effectively across most client types, diagnoses, and issues. In time and with practice, you’ll be able to flexibly apply it to a variety of situations on the fly.
However, to help you feel more confident when addressing common scenarios present in this age group, the trainers have created a set of resources with information on how to successfully adapt DNA-V for young people with…
- Suicidality
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma
- Autism
- OCD
- and intellectual disabilities
Bonus #2: Incorporating Parents (Webinar Recording)
Whether you’re working with the adults in a young person’s life directly or simply reporting to them, getting them on board with an approach that is skill- and process-based can sometimes be a challenge. This is, in part, because it requires them to rethink their expectations — both in terms of what therapy is and what their relationship to their child should be. Parents can cling to hopes of “getting rid” of their child’s bad feelings in order to make them happy, or alternatively may have their own ideas about how a child should act.
In this recorded webinar, you’ll learn how to effectively incorporate parents into your DNA-V work by using the model to build their skills and helping them be more open to their child exploring, testing boundaries, and creating their own values.
Bonus #2: Incorporating Parents (Webinar Recording)
Get access to the Live Webinar and Recording of Incorporating Parents
CEs
Upon completion of the core course content and supplemental materials, plus evaluations and post-test as required, participants will also be eligible for 16 CE hours approved for the following professionals:
Counselors
Psychologists
Nurses
Physicians
Behavior Analysts
Substance Abuse Counselors
Social Workers
Prior to registering, please review complete CE information by clicking here: CE Details
Enroll in DNA-V for Young People
When you enroll in the course, you get lifetime access to all course materials.
What’s included:
- 7 stimulating modules
- 9+ hours of video footage, including unscripted demonstrations with young people
- Tools designed specifically for people between the ages of 12 and 24
- Written course materials
- Video subtitle options in English and Spanish
- Lifetime access to all course content
- Bonus #1: Adapting DNA-V: Info Sheet Bundle
- Bonus #2: Incorporating Parents (Webinar Recording)
To join, select one of the following options:
A one-time payment of
$499 (USD)
OR
6 monthly payments of
$99 (USD)
For group purchases email courses@praxiscet.com. Group discounts are available for 5+ registrations.
14-Day Money-Back Guarantee
In order to make course enrollment risk-free, all enrollees will be fully covered by a 14-day refund policy:
If you decide for any reason the course isn’t right for you, email the Praxis support team at courses@praxiscet.com within 14 days of enrolling, and we will be happy to refund your entire course fee, unconditionally.
What Course Members are Saying
“I’m blown away by the clinical tape showing Louise’s intake interview with a young person in Module 1 of the course. The video shows how a clinician may build rapport with the client and obtain essential information for a DNA-V case conceptualization, including self-view, within 10 minutes or so. Wow! Love it and it helps my case conceptualization for clients of all ages!!”
Rachel C., Counselor
“Wonderful course. I really valued the entire course but found the self-disclosure, warmth, and transparency from Dr. Hayes and Dr. Ciarrochi very powerful and helpful. This course would be well suited for counselors or other professionals that work with youth populations in the areas of social and emotional well-being. It is helpful to see live interactions with youth and I find myself thinking back on some of the videos, particularly the ones that demonstrate interaction with the parent or parent/child, during clinical processes with my own clients. I have used the information I have learned in individual therapy sessions as well as in presentations for parents. The course does a great job of explaining how stress and anxiety are an adaptive function, which allows one to segue into understanding and explaining the DNA-V model very well.”
Christina A., Licensed Mental Health Counselor
“I was very impressed with this course. I found it to be very well-designed and well-organized. The instructors were helpful, clear, and effective. They presented concepts and intervention ideas that really expanded my set of available tools for working with young people. The videos with actual clients and groups of young people allowed me to see these innovative intervention ideas in action. The DNA-V model is uniquely designed in that while it offers specific techniques and exercises to try, it is also flexible enough to allow me to adapt the model and integrate it with my own intervention style. After taking this course I was excited to try to use these new ideas to help the young people I work with learn to feel more resilient in the face of stress and live more vital, meaningful lives. Whether you are someone who is already seasoned in working with young people or someone who is new to working with this population, I believe this course will have much to offer you. Working with adolescents and emerging adults can be challenging at times, but after this course I feel more confident in how I intervene in sessions with them.”
Andrew M., Licensed Clinical Psychologist
“I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot. I started using DNA-V after hearing Louise Hayes do a workshop on DNA-V and was hungry for more. This course gave me wonderful resources and additional PDF supporting documents to help me continue to grow in my use of DNA-V. I am so grateful!”
Christina L., BCBA
“Each of us is special and in this journey of life we have embarked on, there are situations where we sometimes swim on water and sometimes we swallow water. This training tries to keep us afloat with activities that encourage us to swim and move our feet in difficult times. I first started to apply what I learned as a psychology student to myself, and trying to give place to my feelings and meet with them was very useful. It will be very beneficial for you to gain flexibility in the face of events. Also, you will be able to adapt to very difficult conditions and take your steps more confidently. The fact that the course is made up of modules allows us to pause and reflect and learn even better.”
Emre B., Student
Questions and Answers
Q. Do you offer group rates?
Yes! We provide a discount for groups through our Group License.
This license allows you to purchase as many memberships as you need through one transaction and gives each individual access to their own account and the ability to earn CEs. It’s designed for groups in which each person should have their own login with the ability to go through the entire course on their own. There’s a 10% discount off the total price for 5–9 accounts and a 20% discount off the total price for 10+ logins.
Our Group License also allows you to purchase access to a course in advance.
This means that if you would like your current clinicians to get started on a course but know there will be a few more individuals added to your team in the near future, you could purchase all the memberships you need now and once the new clinicians are ready to get started, you can simply send us their names and email addresses and we will get them enrolled.
To purchase a group license and take advantage of group rates, email us at: courses@praxiscet.com (Group rates cannot be purchased using the standard checkout on this page.)
Q. Do I need prior knowledge of DNA-V or ACT to do this course?
No previous experience with either model is required. This course introduces the DNA-V model in a practical, easy-to-follow way and gives you the skills, knowledge, and tools to begin using it with young clients no matter your therapeutic background.
Q. How is DNA-V different from ACT?
DNA-V shares many core aspects with ACT, like psychological flexibility processes, relational frame theory, and the importance of mindfulness, acceptance, and values. However, it also incorporates explicitly developmental concepts like attachment theory and play as well as positive psychology aspects of thinking and problem-solving. As part of this, it includes specific elements geared toward fostering a growth mindset and prosociality in young people. In addition, the model uses a highly accessible structure that helps young people (and anyone!) more intuitively understand the theory underneath the hexaflex and use it in real life to pursue meaning.
Q. What type of clients can benefit from DNA-V?
Because DNA-V is a process-based therapy, the tools you will learn in this course can be applied to a broad range of young people, including pre-teens, teens, and young adults. You will learn skills that you can use with young people who have been given specific diagnoses (for instance, depression, anxiety, OCD) as well as those exhibiting behavioral issues, family or relationship issues, or trauma. Similarly, the tools can be used to help young people enhance their lives or manage issues that occur frequently in this age group, like bullying and loneliness, and how to deal with the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence.
Q. Parents are sometimes included in my work with a young client. Will this course address that?
Social context is an important part of the DNA-V model, so an entire module is devoted to our “social view,” and it is incorporated in other lessons throughout the course. For young people, family relationships are a key part of the social context, and Dr. Hayes and Dr. Ciarrochi discuss the importance of attachment theory as well as parenting throughout the course. You will also see a sample session with a father and son as well as an example of how to effectively clarify parenting values in a conversation with the father alone. In addition, the bonus webinar explicitly addresses how to incorporate parents into your work.
Q. How soon will I be able to use DNA-V with my clients?
You will gain tools and concepts you can bring directly into your work with young people in the very first module of the course. Because DNA-V is a process-based model, you can begin incorporating the concepts gradually into your existing practice and still have a bigger impact!
Q. I’m not a psychologist. Can I take this course?
Absolutely. DNA-V will be useful to virtually anyone whose work involves helping young people reach their full potential, including teachers, coaches, behavior analysts, social workers, and others. In the course, you will see a therapy application as well as exercises you can use in groups to help young people connect with what matters and build skill in flexibly meeting life’s challenges. That said, the model was designed to be intuitive and this is a ground-level introduction, so you don’t need a background in other therapies to take the course or incorporate what you’ve learned into your work.
Q. I’m not new to DNA-V. Would this course be useful to me?
This is an introductory course, so it’s likely that some of the information in it will overlap with your existing knowledge. However, this course includes the most recent updates to the model and theory as well as a series of practical demonstrations illustrating how to use the concepts and tools with individuals as well as groups. This is the most comprehensive DNA-V training available, so it can absolutely help fortify what you already know and help you improve.
If you’re unsure about the level, you can always try it out for yourself. If you find it’s not the right fit, you can email us at courses@praxiscet.com within 14 days of joining for a full, unconditional refund.
Q. I already went through the original DNA-V on-demand training with Praxis. Should I take this one?
If you’ve already completed the previous course and would like a refresher of the model and theory, this is a great course for you.
Most of the information covered in the course will overlap with your existing knowledge, however, it will include new things such as:
- A refreshed design of the DNA-V disk
- An in-depth explanation of functional contextualism and process-based therapy
- Demonstration sessions with a parent
- More exercises to help you engage with the material
- Additional tools to use with young people, from the trainers’ recent book Your Life, Your Way
- An info sheet bundle with tips for adapting DNA-V for young people facing a variety of scenarios
In addition, the course was created in a new, improved, and easy-to-use format and includes newly-recorded teaching videos.
If you’re unsure about whether this updated course will be helpful to you in addition to your past DNA-V trainings, you can always try it out for yourself and then decide. If you find it’s not as helpful to you as you imagined, you can email us at courses@praxiscet.com within 14 days of joining for a full, unconditional refund.
Q. Will course videos have subtitles?
All video content will have subtitles available in English and Spanish (and you may also slow down or speed up video playback if you wish). Additional language options will be considered seriously in the future, depending on interest.
Q. Will the course be available in other languages?
All course content and materials are in English, including the quizzes, which will be conducted at the end of each module and will cumulatively serve as the CE-required post-test. But to help make the training accessible to our international community, subtitles in Spanish and English will be available for all video content, including the practical demonstrations. (You can also slow down, or speed up, the video playback if you wish.)
Q. How much time will I need to dedicate to this course?
The 7 modules will be released weekly, and you can expect to spend approximately 1.5 to 2.5 hours watching video instruction and roleplays and doing exercises per module. The duration of the course as a whole will depend in part on you, since it’s self-paced. The modules are released at a weekly interval to give you time to absorb the material before moving on. You can keep pace with the weekly schedule, or move through at a slower pace, if that suits your needs better. Enrollment includes lifetime access to all materials, so there’s no need to rush.
Q. How long will I have access to the course?
Enrollment in DNA-V for Young People includes lifetime access to all course materials, so you can work through the modules at your own pace and revisit videos and exercises at any time in the future. You’ll also have access to any future updates made to the course.
Q. I’m in the middle of another training; can I join now and start this course once I’m finished?
Yes! Since enrollment includes lifetime access to all course materials, you can enroll in the course now and get started whenever it’s convenient for you. The course is entirely self-paced, so you can move through the modules on your own schedule and revisit videos and exercises at any time in the future. You’ll also have access to any updates made to the course.
Q. Is this course eligible for CE credit hours?
Upon completion of the core course content and supplemental materials, plus evaluations as required, participants will be eligible for 16 CE hours, approved for the following professionals:
Counselors
Psychologists
Nurses
Physicians
Behavior Analysts
Substance Abuse Counselors
Social Workers
Prior to registering, please review complete CE information by clicking here: CE Details
Q. Do you offer scholarships?
We have a limited reduced-fee program to help make this training accessible to those who would otherwise be unable to enroll, with priority given to practitioners in countries with developing economies and those who are facing financial hardship. To learn more about this program, please email us at courses@praxiscet.com.
Who should consider this course?
DNA-V for Young people will be a good fit for you if…
- Your work involves helping people between the ages of 12 and 24 lead healthier, more fulfilling lives — whether that happens in classrooms, therapy rooms, community centers, or in another setting
- You want to engage young people more effectively, in either individual or group interactions, and make your work together more vital and collaborative
- You work with mindfulness, acceptance, or values-based techniques but want a model that speaks directly to the needs and minds of younger age groups
- You have some exposure to DNA-V and want to expand your understanding, gain new tools, and grow your skill in applying it
- You want to be part of a system that’s better equipped to help young people navigate life’s challenges and reach their potential
If any of the points above resonate with you, this course will help you reach your goals.
Enroll in DNA-V for Young People
When you enroll in the course, you get lifetime access to all course materials.
What’s included:
- 7 stimulating modules
- 9+ hours of video footage, including unscripted demonstrations with young people
- Tools designed specifically for people between the ages of 12 and 24
- Written course materials
- Video subtitle options in English and Spanish
- Lifetime access to all course content
- Bonus #1: Adapting DNA-V: Info Sheet Bundle
- Bonus #2: Incorporating Parents (Webinar Recording)
To join, select one of the following options:
A one-time payment of
$499 (USD)
OR
6 monthly payments of
$99 (USD)
For group purchases email courses@praxiscet.com. Group discounts are available for 5+ registrations.
Closing Thoughts from the Trainers
When we see a young person struggling, it brings out the protector in us.
It often makes us wish we could change the past or that we could just tell them how to navigate difficult situations.
But we have to ask ourselves: do we really know what would be best for them in the long run?
Young people have strengths that we tend to overlook — strengths we might even learn from ourselves, if we’re open to it.
Depending on their developmental history, those qualities might be misdirected. They can come out in the form of risky or self-harming behaviors.
But the answer isn’t to cure them of their emotionality, risk taking, or ability to live in the moment. And it isn’t to tell them what to do or steer them around every obstacle.
Because we don’t have all the answers.
And we don’t need them in order to help.
All we need is a willingness to meet young people where they are, appreciate their experience, and help them apply their strengths to the task of creating a life of meaning, of beauty, of vitality.
As their helpers and protectors, we can give them tools to do this — not just to find their way out of a specific situation or do away with certain symptoms, but to meet all of life’s challenges with skill and flexibility.
And there’s no doubt that we’ll enrich our own lives in the process.
This has been without a doubt our own experience when using DNA-V with young people.
We hope you’ll join the course and experience it for yourself.