ASCENT at Heights is a six-month program, split into two 12-week sessions.

ASCENT at Heights offers a holistic approach to food and body concerns, specific to children, ages 9-14 years. We help young adolescents on their own ascent to find balance between the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of life, recognizing how each aspect affects the body. We approach each child as an individual and encourage growth, acceptance, and change.

DBT Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a proven treatment method used with people who have eating disorders. DBT offers specific skills, targeting maladaptive coping styles (over or under-eating). DBT encourages clients to be aware of their behavior patterns and separate out the differences between the urge to engage in a behavior and the act of engaging.

Clients will meet one-to-one with the DBT specialist for 50-minute sessions once a week for the first 12 weeks. Three of these sessions will include members of the client’s family.

Art Therapy Group

Because art is innately therapeutic, the creation of artwork can be an emotional release and a mode of communication. The process of creating art yields self-expression that in turn helps people resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight. The process of creating may be the focus, or dialogue may occur in regard to the actual product made. In this way, the art itself may become a springboard to further conversation. 

Art Therapy Groups will be 90-minutes in length, held once a week every other week, for the final 12 weeks of ASCENT at Heights. Art Therapy Groups will promote increased confidence in expression of challenging internal emotions, encourage pro-social interaction and peer support, and provide validation for participants.

Movement Group

Movement and exercise are critical to a healthy existence. Often, young people who engage in disordered eating have a disconnected relationship between their emotional and physical self. Being connected to one’s physical self is the first step in learning how to be present and in the moment, and thus the first step to change an unwanted behavior.

Movement Groups will be 90-minute groups, held once a week every other week, for the final 12 weeks of ASCENT at Heights. Movement Groups will encourage participants to step out of their comfort zone and try out different low and high impact physical activities within a therapeutic environment. Emphasis will be on play and pro-body concept.

Medical

Participants of ASCENT at Heights will receive three medical visits with Heights Pediatrics’ pediatrician, Dr. Katerina Silverblatt. These visits will occur at the beginning (within the first week), middle (during week 12), and at the completion of the program.

Nutrition

Participants of ASCENT at Heights will work with our nutritionist, Maya Feller, for three group sessions. These groups will be educational and kid-focused, including small groups of ASCENT at Heights program participants only.

In addition, there will be three groups offered to families of ASCENT at Heights participants. These groups will be focused on nutrition and wellness at home in effort to support participants’ of ASCENT at Heights growth.