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Alumni Spotlight: Amelia Teta

Posted on by Sarah Shebek

Amelia Teta is from Boston and attended Mountain Valley in 2017. Teta was an active student-athlete at the rigorous Boston Latin School before suffering two concussions. After that, she struggled with anxiety and depression and ultimately received a diagnosis of OCD. When she felt like she was hitting rock bottom, her family found Mountain Valley. She successfully graduated the program, completed high school online, and will soon be a licensed occupational therapist focused on helping patients live to the fullest. 

What brought you to Mountain Valley?

When I started high school, my anxiety ramped up to the point where I felt like I was dying. I ended up faking more concussions to stay home from school and my parents enrolled me in two different day programs instead. The goal was for me to re-enroll in high school during eleventh grade but there was just no way, I was a disaster. I had my new OCD diagnosis that was barely managed through biweekly outpatient appointments. My family worked with an educational consultant who recommended Mountain Valley. My parents told me I got to make the decision—I knew it wasn’t going to be fun but that I had to do it. A week later, I was there with my bags.

Amelia Teta

What are you doing today? 

I just took my last final to complete my classroom work for my degree in occupational therapy. I got my bachelor’s degree in children, youth, and family studies at Lesley University, and I am finishing my master’s degree at the University of New England. Up next, I have two placements  in high school mental health and at an outpatient pediatric clinic.

When I attended Mountain Valley, the program didn’t have any occupational therapists on staff, and I didn’t really know anything about it. But I’ve always known I wanted to work in health, and one of my good friend’s moms is a physical therapist. She told me, “Amelia, I’ve known you since you were five. Go watch every video you can find about occupational therapy and tell me you don’t want to do that.” At Mountain Valley my biggest fear was suffering, and when I found out there was a job I could do to help people relieve any bit of suffering through things they love, that was life-changing. Occupational therapists can help people do anything they care about. 

How do you think Mountain Valley made a difference in your life? 

The question at Mountain Valley was always, “how are you going to build this worthwhile life?” It made sense in my brain and helped me have a checklist to stop the unorganized waves in my mind. My therapist told me, “You are here in this body, and you’re going to live your life. How are you going to make it so it’s worth the pain and suffering, and it’s worth it for you to do it?” 

So I focused on what I love and how I can achieve it, even if I can’t see straight and I’m depressed. Before I joined Mountain Valley, my OCD thoughts of “what if something bad happens” would keep me from doing what mattered. I decided that no matter when I die, I’ll do everything I can to help people around me, love them, and support them. Making that choice to fully engage in life is anxiety-provoking but it’s worth it for me to live out my values.  

What’s next for you? 

I have a fiancé and she’s been a huge support for me. She encouraged me to apply at the University of New England and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. If you had asked me three years ago if I could live away from home outside of my routine, it would have been my worst nightmare. She pushes me to travel and think outside the box. 

I think it would be cool to do some travel work as an occupational therapist, maybe in a high school or pediatric setting. The long-term goal is to work in perinatal health, from when someone gets pregnant to a year or two after their due date. As an OT, I can help work with them on building up confidence and good habits, go into the home and make their spaces more functional. After birth I get to hang out with the baby and do all the early intervention stuff that I love. That is the lifelong goal. 

Why do you think a family should choose Mountain Valley? 

It can be really scary think about dropping off your kid with a bunch of strangers, especially when it’s far away. But if it’s the best decision for your family and child, you know it in your gut. The joy I had doing the work was the most joy I’d experienced in a long time. It’s hard, it can be terrifying, and it works. 

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Staff Spotlight: Alison LaFollette

Posted on by Sarah Shebek

Clinical Expertise in Every Setting 

Mountain Valley’s Clinical Director, Alison LaFollette, PhD, traded testing in the deserts of Utah to directing a clinical team in the woods of New Hampshire. She arrived on campus a little over a year ago and works alongside an excellent team of clinicians and staff to further the development of the clinical program. Before she made the big move, Alison spent 10 years in Utah, primarily focusing on comprehensive psychological and neuropsychological evaluations with adolescents and young adults.

Alison LaFollette

What brought you to Mountain Valley?

“In my training I specialized in working with anxiety and depression in young adults. During my master’s program I worked at a career counseling center, and in my PhD program I worked in community mental health and a university counseling center. For my postdoctoral work, I was at a psychiatric inpatient hospital treating acute cases of anxiety, depression, mood disorders. After that, I taught for two years at a liberal arts college in Salt Lake City, teaching master’s level clinicians in the mental health counseling program. I left that position to begin my work in comprehensive evaluations at wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, and residential treatment centers.

All that experience gave me a lens for examining complex cases with many co-occurring disorders. You need to think critically and carefully about clients and what would be in their best clinical interest over time. I think that experience applies well to Mountain Valley. While we primarily treat OCD and anxiety, often that’s not the only thing happening for the clients coming in. They might have co-occurring depression, trauma, or be on the autism spectrum. The various experiences I have had help me think about the clients that come to Mountain Valley in a unique way. I can apply that experience in different evidence-based treatments in a variety of ways with our clients.”

What do you like best about working at Mountain Valley? 

The residents that come to the program. We have some really interesting conversations together in therapy, but also just casually in the community. Most of the residents who come to Mountain Valley are working hard to figure out how to improve their functioning in a variety of ways, and they have a nice openness to different techniques. I think that’s a fun part of the job—while our program is heavily influenced by exposure response prevention (ERP) we also dabble in different evidence-based practices, like cognitive behavioral therapy, and residents get to find different things that resonate with them.

Watching residents apply their new skills or have meaningful exposure experiences in real-time is definitely the best part of the job. A lot of times in outpatient therapy, because of the limited timeframe, you don’t always get to see that change happening right before your eyes. But at Mountain Valley, you get to see that change from the time of their intake to when they graduate.

What is a typical day like for you? 

A typical day is quite busy. In my role as clinical director, it means that I’m spending a lot of my day trying to support the therapists that are on my clinical team. That might be thinking about their case and how to proceed with it or engaging in case conceptualization. I coordinate with the residential director and meet with the executive director to determine how to improve our clinical programming. Sometimes I’m in therapy groups during the day with the clinicians, and generally I’m checking on the overall health of the residents that are in our care.

What do you think is the biggest misconception around OCD?

I think when a lot of people use the word OCD, they use it in a very casual way to describe being organized or liking things clean or wanting to do things in a specific way. It’s not that those things can’t be OCD, but when its’s talked about in the mainstream it often doesn’t take the diagnosis seriously. The level of OCD a person has can really impact everything from getting up in the morning to their relationships.

Another misconception that OCD is very visible, but often it’s not. A lot of times the compulsions are happening mentally, and that can make it hard to recognize. It might look like someone is trying to control things, and when they’re told to let go, that’s the thing they’re fearing the most. You have to target it in a specific way to help them realize what happens when they step outside of things that are in their control.

What’s your goal for a resident when they graduate from the program?

In my mind, it is an improvement in functioning and living in accordance with their values. Sometimes the resident can function to a degree and it’s only because of the way that they’re engaging with their OCD. It’s not really in line with their values. They can’t have the meaningful relationships they want, or pursue academics in the way that they want, or go about the day in a healthy way. My hope is that when they leave our care that they’ve learned enough skills and gone through enough exposure work that they can tolerate distress and move toward their goals.

What’s been the biggest surprise about moving to the East Coast?

Coming from Utah, the proximity to bodies of water. In Utah there’s the Great Salt Lake, which is large, but you can’t really use it for recreation. It’s been fun to be in the East where we’re close to rivers, swimming holes, lakes, and the ocean. That’s been a nice surprise and not something I really thought about when moving out here. It’s been fun to add that into the outdoor activities I enjoy.

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Understanding the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS): A Tool for Managing Anxiety

Posted on by Mountain Valley Treatment Center

Anxiety can often feel overwhelming, especially when it surfaces unexpectedly. At Mountain Valley, we understand the importance of equipping individuals with effective tools to navigate these intense emotions. One such tool we regularly employ is the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS). Before our group and individual psychotherapy sessions, we often ask participants to share their SUDS levels. This practice not only promotes self-awareness but also fosters open communication about one’s emotional state.

What Is the Subjective Units of Distress Scale?

The Subjective Units of Distress Scale, commonly known as SUDS, is a simple self-assessment tool used to quantify the intensity of distress or anxiety an individual feels at a particular moment. Developed by psychologist Joseph Wolpe in the 1960s, SUDS assigns a numerical value—typically ranging from 0 t0 10 (or 0 t0 100)—to represent one’s current level of discomfort. A score of 0 indicates complete calmness, while 10 signifies the highest level of distress imaginable.

How Does SUDS Work?

SUDS is inherently subjective, relying on personal perception rather than objective measurements. Here’s how it generally works:

  1.   Identification: When an individual begins to feel anxious or distressed, they pause to acknowledge these feelings.
  2.   Assessment: They assign a numerical value to their level of distress based on the SUDS scale.
  3.   Reflection: This number helps them—and the MV team—to understand the severity of their symptoms at that moment.
  4.   Action: Based on the SUDS score, appropriate coping strategies or therapeutic interventions can be applied to manage the distress.

Why Is SUDS Important for Managing Anxiety?

Promotes Self-Awareness

One of the first steps in managing anxiety is to recognize when it’s occurring.. By regularly assessing their SUDS score, individuals become more attuned to their emotional states. This heightened self-awareness can lead to earlier interventions and prevent anxiety from escalating.

Facilitates Communication

Articulating feelings of anxiety can be challenging. SUDS provides a straightforward way to communicate distress levels to therapists, caregivers, or peers. At Mountain Valley Treatment Center, sharing SUDS scores before group sessions helps create a common language that enhances understanding and fosters effective support.

Guides Therapeutic Interventions

In therapeutic settings, SUDS is often used during exposure therapy—a treatment commonly employed for anxiety disorders and phobias. By assigning distress levels during exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli, therapists can tailor the intensity and duration of exposures to optimize treatment outcomes.

Research Supporting SUDS

A study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders highlighted the efficacy of using SUDS in exposure therapy for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The research found that patients who consistently used SUDS to report their anxiety levels experienced a more significant reduction in symptoms compared to those who did not use the scale1.

Another study in Behavior Research and Therapy demonstrated that SUDS scores could predict treatment outcomes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic disorder. Higher initial SUDS scores were associated with greater improvements by the end of treatment, suggesting that SUDS can be a useful prognostic tool2.

Implementing SUDS in Daily Life

While SUDS is often used in clinical settings, it can also be a valuable tool for personal use. Here are some tips for integrating SUDS into daily routines:

  • Regular Check-Ins: Set aside moments during the day to assess your SUDS score, even when not feeling particularly anxious. This practice can help track patterns and triggers over time.
  • Journaling: Keep a log of your SUDS scores along with notes about situations or thoughts that may have influenced your anxiety levels.
  • Coping Strategies: Use your SUDS score to determine when to employ relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, mindfulness, or physical activity.

How We Use SUDS at Mountain Valley

At Mountain Valley, the SUDS scale is an integral part of our therapeutic approach. Before group sessions, we encourage participants to share their SUDS levels. This practice serves multiple purposes:

  • Encourages Open Dialogue: Sharing SUDS scores helps break down barriers and promotes honesty about one’s feelings.
  • Tailors Group Dynamics: Understanding the collective distress levels allows facilitators to adjust the session’s focus to better meet the group’s needs.
  • Monitors Progress: Regularly tracking SUDS scores provides tangible data on an individual’s progress over time.

The Benefits of Using SUDS at Mountain Valley

  • Personalized Treatment Plans: By consistently monitoring SUDS scores, our therapists can customize treatment plans to address specific anxiety levels.
  • Empowerment Through Self-Monitoring: Patients learn to take control of their anxiety by recognizing and addressing distress as it occurs.
  • Enhanced Peer Support: Sharing SUDS levels in group settings fosters a sense of community and mutual understanding among participants.

The Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) is a powerful yet simple tool that empowers individuals to understand and manage their anxiety. By quantifying distress, it transforms abstract feelings into concrete data that can guide personal coping strategies and therapeutic interventions.

At Mountain Valley, we are committed to providing evidence-based approaches like SUDS to support adolescents and young adults dealing with anxiety and OCD. By incorporating tools like the SUDS scale into our programs, we help individuals develop the skills they need to navigate their emotions and lead fulfilling lives.

If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help.

References:

  1.  Kircanski, K., & Peris, T. S. (2015). Exposure and response prevention process predicts treatment outcome in youth with OCD. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 36, 45-51.
  2.  Meuret, A. E., Rosenfield, D., Seidel, A., Bhaskara, L., & Hofmann, S. G. (2010). Respiratory and cognitive mediators of treatment change in panic disorder: Evidence for intervention specificity. Behavior Research and Therapy, 48(8), 698-706.

 

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