PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH OFFERS FREE ADHD SEMINAR

CONCORD, N.C., AUGUST 30, 2004—Cabarrus Family Medicine – Psychological and Behavioral Health (CFM-PBH) will be hosting a free seminar for the public on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder September 2 at 6:00 p.m. The event will take place in the Cabarrus Family Medicine Conference Center, at 201 Copperfield Boulevard in Concord.

The program offered by Psychological and Behavioral Health is nationally recognized and researched and was designed by Dr. Russel Barkley, one of the most respected names in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. CFM-PBH has been using Dr. Barkley's program in the practice since 1993.

Guests at the seminar will learn about what ADHD really is and about its causes and treatments. ADHD is characterized by symptoms such as distractibility, difficulty with sustained attention, off-task behaviors, impulsivity, and fidgety tendencies. These symptoms arise in early childhood, would have to de developmentally inappropriate when compared with peers, and should be noted in most settings. If an ADHD diagnosis is confirmed, then a multimode treatment approach is often recommended. Such a plan may include a combination of medication, parent training in behavior modification, parent support, and educational accommodation plan, and psychological counseling.

CFM – PBH will also be offering a class for parents of children with ADHD beginning September 14, from 4:30-6:00 on Tuesday evenings. This will be a ten-week series. In this class, parents will learn why children misbehave; what to do when praise is not enough; how to develop attending skills, increase compliance to requests, decrease disruptive behavior, correctly use time-out, manage behavior at school, manage behavior in public places, and anticipate future behavior problems. This series will be led by therapists Eileen Keipper, M.A. and Wes Teeter, M.A., LPC.

“Last year we got a real boost when the National Academy of Pediatrics went on record and established the standard of care for ADHD as including behavioral treatment as well as medicine,” said Eileen Keipper, M.A.

She continued, “The behavioral treatment of choice is parent training. We do not blame the parents or think that they are the cause of this problem. Rather, they are the ones with the responsibility and power to fix the problem.”

The program is shown to be effective for increasingompliance and decreasing disruptive behavior in children with ADHD. Most parents and children also report an improvement in their relationship and in the happiness of their child.

Psychological and Behavioral Health offers this parenting group 2 to 3 times per year.

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CFM – PBH psychologists and staff aim to provide a caring environment where clients can effectively work through the problems of daily living.

Their clinicians have advanced skills in working with clients across the life span, including children, adolescents and adults. In addition to traditional psychological services, such as assessment, testing, counseling and consultations, we offer health psychology services for patients whose primary concerns are coping with medical illness.

Their home office, formerly Carolina Child & Family Services, is now located at 270 Copperfield Blvd., Suite 10. They also provide treatment at several of the Cabarrus Family Medicine clinics. Their practice serves as the Behavioral Medicine Division of Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency. In this role, the clinicians regularly lecture on psychological topics, conduct research and collaborate closely with referring physicians.

Intervention services include: individual therapy, marital and couple’s therapy, family therapy, group therapy, parent training, coping skills, stress management. Assessment services include: attention deficit disorder, psychoeducational testing, personality assessment, mood disorders, chronic pain evaluation. Health Psychology services include: chronic pain management, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, lifestyle modification, medical non-compliance, coping with chronic illness.