Center for Evidence Based Treatment Ohio

12/24/2025

Wishing everyone a season of Peace. May these days land gently and with promise.

12/23/2025

MED-DBT finally gets its textbook - Congratulations Dr. Anita Federici, Clinical Psychologist and Lucene Wisniewski, PhD, LLC ! Available December 24!!!!

This book took years to write, and a lifetime to learn.

It came from watching too many people fall through the cracks of eating disorder treatment.

From being told some cases were “too complex.”

From sitting with families who were exhausted, scared, and running out of options.

From clients who desperately wanted relief, not labels.

MED-DBT is built on a simple but radical idea:
That behavior makes sense in context and that people don’t fail treatment; treatments fail people.

Our book is out tomorrow (Dec 24th)! 🎉

And we hope it helps clinicians stay curious, grounded, and hopeful in the hardest cases.

12/22/2025

Join Anita Federici, PhD FAED & Lucene Wisniewski, PhD FAED on January 14, 2026 for a Portland DBT Institute Learn and Earn presentation "From Complexity to Clarity: Why MED-DBT and How to Target Multiple High-Risk Behaviors in Multidiagnostic Eating Disorders."

Wednesday January 14
12:00pm - 1:00pm Pacific Time
3:00pm - 4:00pm Eastern Time

Register Here: https://academy.pdbti.org/product/from-complexity-to-clarity-why-med-dbt-and-how-to or visit https://academy.pdbti.org/

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Clinicians working with clients who have eating disorders alongside suicidality, self-injury, trauma, neurodiversity, or OCD conditions often find themselves unsure how to effectively manage the eating disorder within the broader clinical picture. Traditional eating disorder and DBT models tend to address these problems in isolation, leaving providers without a clear way to prioritize, sequence, or integrate care when multiple high-risk behaviors occur simultaneously.

Multidiagnostic Eating Disorder–Dialectical Behavior Therapy (MED-DBT) was developed to address these challenges. This 60-minute webinar will provide an overview of MED-DBT, including its rationale, structure, and stage-based approach to organizing treatment for high-risk and multi-layered ED presentations.

Instructor | Anita Federici, PhD, C.Psych, FAED, is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Centre for Psychology and Emotion Regulation, specializing in eating disorders, personality disorders, and trauma. An international trainer and consultant, she has delivered over 400 presentations on DBT and ED treatment and co-authored Treating Eating Disorders with DBT: The MED-DBT Protocol.

Instructor | Lucene Wisniewski, PhD, FAED, is a clinician, trainer, and researcher specializing in evidence-based treatments for eating and co-occurring disorders. An Adjunct Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University, she has delivered over 150 international trainings and published more than 40 papers. She directs The Center for Evidence Based Treatment Ohio and co-authored Treating Eating Disorders with DBT: The MED-DBT Protocol.

12/18/2025

Holidays can be fraught with expectations and strong emotions that make it difficult to be one with the moment. We asked Amanda Groves-Kopchak, LPCC-S, what her expertise in grief work would recommend to those struggling during the holiday season.

DBT Skills for Navigating Grief this Holiday Season

Grieving can feel draining! While difficult, attending to your basic needs using the PLEASE skills can help to reduce emotional vulnerability.

Use Dialectical Thinking to reduce the intensity of emotions around your loss.
Examples:
I may never be happy in the way I imagined AND I am still capable of happiness.
I’m devastated by this loss AND I am relieved that my loved one is no longer suffering.
No one may understand my grief AND they may still be able to help me in other ways.

Manage your expectations on how others "should" react or respond to your loss. Communicate to others how to best support you using the DEARMAN skill. Describe your situation factually, Express your opinion, Assert your request, Reinforce the positive , stay Mindful and confident, Appear confident, and be ready to Negotiate as needed.

Use Opposite Action to help regulate your emotions.
Of course, isolating after a loss is justified AND it's not going to be effective to continue to stay isolated long-term. If you find yourself isolating for weeks, months, or even years, your emotional intensity could increase over time.

Check the Facts when emotions around the loss are high.
Our emotions while grieving are often motivated by interpretations and judgements rather than facts.

Distress Tolerance - Use Distraction with ACCEPTS- Emotions last around 90 seconds AND while it feels intolerable, no feeling lasts forever. Distraction can help us tolerate the emotions of grief in the short-term.

Whichever skillful plan you create to manage the season, we wish you Peace and Comfort.

12/16/2025

SAVE THE DATE for the DBT Bulletin Launch Party!

On Friday January 23rd, from noon to 1:15 p.m. EST, the DBT Bulletin will host authors discussing their featured articles from Volume 9, Issue 2. CEBT founder Lucene Wisniewski , Ph.D., FAED, and Anita Federici, Ph.D., FAED will review their article Applying DBT “Outside the Box”: MED-DBT for Multi-Diagnostic Eating Disorders. Look for updates and registration information coming soon!

Download your copy of the DBT Bulletin at www.dbtbulletin.org

Pre-order the DBT textbook “Treating Eating Disorders with DBT: The MED-DBT Protocol” from Guilford Press at www.guilford.com

We look forward to seeing you there!

12/11/2025

INCREDIBLY EXCITED !!!

Please join Dr. Anita Federici, Clinical Psychologist and Dr. Lucene Wisniewski, coauthors of “Treating Eating Disorders with DBT”, for a Learn & Earn event with the Portland DBT Institute on January 14th! ❄️✍️

This discussion will provide an overview of MED-DBT, including its rationale, structure, and stage-based approach to organizing treatment for high-risk and multi-layered ED presentations. The authors will also outline how MED-DBT supports real-world decision-making for clients who often fall through the cracks of standard systems of care.

🔗 RSVP for free at the link: https://bit.ly/493KGvX ! Registration ends January 13th, 2026.

12/10/2025

CEBT is incredibly proud of the professionals that work alongside us, and we want to introduce them to each of you. Please meet clinical psychologist Amanda Bruening, Ph.D.

Amanda specializes in assessing and treating eating and weight-related disorders. She has worked with children, adolescents and young adults with eating pathology, both at inpatient and outpatient levels of care. She has received extensive training in evidence-based treatments, including Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Family-Based Treatment (FBT), and is working toward advanced certification in FBT through the Institute of Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders. She also has advanced training in comprehensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Much of her published work has focused on the unique intersection of disordered eating and substance abuse - and understanding the motivators, such as using substances to achieve weight-related goals - for the sake of informing intervention efforts. We asked Amanda to answer three questions to help our readers get to know her.

Why did you become a therapist? Did you think you’d be doing the work you are doing now when you were in graduate school

My father was a surgeon, and my mother worked as a nurse. Together, they operated an outpatient surgery center. I spent my summers and school breaks there doing everything from escorting patients to and from the waiting room as a toddler to sanitizing instruments and scrubbing in for surgeries. When I was old enough to work as a medical tech, taking down patient histories, I found myself much more interested in the patient’s life story and experiences than their clinical data. This interest in understanding others’ experiences shaped many subsequent adventures in my life and ultimately landed me in a Psychology 101 course. There, I finally felt like I found ‘my thing.’

What is one thing about psychotherapy you wish everyone knew?

Change is not linear! We often look so intently at where we want to go, this summit of our journey, that we fail to pause and reflect on the many, undulating, and winding miles we have already progressed. Both are important!

What is your motto or personal mantra?

After I had my son, I became a certified yoga teacher. One of yoga's fundamental ethics is Aparigraha, which translates to non-possessiveness or 'only what is needed.' As a recovering perfectionist, I find myself saying, "only what is needed," throughout the day as a reminder to observe my attachments and to let go. This could be in response to noticing my goals for a client or meeting with colleagues as well as my desire to avoid another mess, as my toddler delightfully spills water all over the kitchen floor... 'Only what is needed.'

Thank you, Amanda, for taking time to share yourself with us.

Want to know more about our team , our evidence-based treatment programs, or our professional trainings? Check us out at www.cebtohio.com. We look forward to meeting you!

12/08/2025

Clinicians working with clients who have eating disorders alongside suicidality, self-injury, trauma, neurodiversity, or OCD conditions often find themselves unsure how to effectively manage the eating disorder within the broader clinical picture. Traditional eating disorder and DBT models tend to address these problems in isolation, leaving providers without a clear way to prioritize, sequence, or integrate care when multiple high-risk behaviors occur simultaneously.

Multi-diagnostic Eating Disorder–Dialectical Behavior Therapy (MED-DBT) was developed to address these challenges. This 60-minute webinar will provide an overview of MED-DBT, including its rationale, structure, and stage-based approach to organizing treatment for high-risk and multi-layered ED presentations. Special attention will be given to the MED-DBT target hierarchy, a practical framework that helps clinicians prioritize behaviors, maintain therapeutic direction, and support collaboration when multiple problems compete for attention.

Drawing on over two decades of clinical work and program development, Drs. Anita Federici and Lucene Wisniewski will outline how MED-DBT supports real-world decision-making for clients who often fall through the cracks of standard systems of care.

January 14th 2026
12pm to 1 pm Pacific Time
3pm to 4pm Eastern Time

REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/3MfbLUf

Learning Objectives
By the conclusion of this event, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the rationale and structure of MED-DBT.
2. Explain how MED-DBT differs from standard ED and DBT models.
3. Identify the purpose and application of the MED-DBT target hierarchy.
4. Recognize how a stage-based structure enhances safety and collaboration

Instructor | Anita Federici, PhD, C.Psych, FAED, is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Centre for Psychology and Emotion Regulation, specializing in eating disorders, personality disorders, and trauma. An international trainer and consultant, she has delivered over 400 presentations on DBT and ED treatment and co-authored Treating Eating Disorders with DBT: The MED-DBT Protocol.

Instructor | Lucene Wisniewski, PhD, FAED, is a clinician, trainer, and researcher specializing in evidence-based treatments for eating and co-occurring disorders. An Adjunct Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University, she has delivered over 150 international trainings and published more than 40 papers. She directs The Center for Evidence Based Treatment Ohio and co-authored Treating Eating Disorders with DBT: The MED-DBT Protocol.

12/02/2025

CEBT is incredibly proud that our postdoctoral psychology fellowship has been recently granted Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) membership, making ours currently the sole APPIC-member fellowship in a private practice setting in Ohio! DON’T FORGET that the deadline to apply for the fellowship is December 15, 2025. Want to learn more? Read about the fellowship below, scan the attached QR code or follow bit.ly/CEBTAPPICpostdoc. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Center for Evidence Based Treatment (CEBT) is an outpatient practice that provides evidence-based therapy, supervision and training for a range of psychological concerns. Our practice is physically located in Cleveland, Ohio and we serve clients both in-person and remotely throughout the state of Ohio, and other states where our staff are licensed. Please note that local residence is not required for fellows.

We treat a wide range of psychological conditions (e.g., anxiety disorders, eating disorders, trauma/stressor disorders, personality disorders, mood disorders) utilizing evidence-based treatments, primarily within a cognitive-behavioral orientation.

We offer comprehensive DBT programming (individual therapy, skills group and phone coaching) for adults and adolescents/families, along with a DBT consultation team. We specialize in the treatment of complex/co-morbid eating disorders with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (MED-DBT) and our practice is led by a clinician/researcher (Dr. Lucene Wisniewski, PhD, FAED) who has spearheaded this treatment approach.

In order to attain competence with a variety of evidence-based treatments and professional psychology tasks, CEBT's fellowship spans two years. In order to support the development of well-rounded evidence-based practitioners, fellows will also be expected to work with clients from across the lifespan.

CEBT's postdoctoral fellowship is designed to meet all of the requirements for post-internship training in Ohio (if you anticipate pursuing independent licensure in a state other than Ohio post-fellowship, we can confirm our capacity to meet any additional requirements on an individual basis).

Thus far, all previous postdoctoral fellows have successfully obtained psychology licensure in Ohio, along with other states (including the Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Psychology/PSYPACT), when applicable.

Finally, CEBT fellows are valued members of the CEBT team and are encouraged to apply for full-time positions following fellowship.

Please feel free to reach out to our Director of Training Dean Malec, Ph.D. with any questions at dmalec@cebtohio.com.

12/01/2025

Love seeing MED-DBT in this issue of the DBT Bulletin!

Big news! Our article, “Applying DBT ‘Outside the Box’: MED-DBT for Multi-Diagnostic Eating Disorders” is out now in the DBT Bulletin 🧡

We share how MED-DBT expands DBT to meet the complex realities of eating disorders intertwined with trauma, suicidality, and neurodivergence all while centering a Life Worth Living at the heart of recovery.

We’re grateful to the editorial team for inviting us to contribute to this special issue on “DBT Outside the Box” and to all the clinicians and clients who continue to expand what’s possible in this work.

You can read the full issue here: https://www.dbtbulletin.org

.ohio

12/01/2025

Check out this issue of the DBT Bulletin for an article authored by Dr. Anita Federici, Clinical Psychologist and Lucene Wisniewski, PhD, LLC on MED-DBT!

Big news! Our article, “Applying DBT ‘Outside the Box’: MED-DBT for Multi-Diagnostic Eating Disorders” is out now in the DBT Bulletin 🧡

We share how MED-DBT expands DBT to meet the complex realities of eating disorders intertwined with trauma, suicidality, and neurodivergence all while centering a Life Worth Living at the heart of recovery.

We’re grateful to the editorial team for inviting us to contribute to this special issue on “DBT Outside the Box” and to all the clinicians and clients who continue to expand what’s possible in this work.

You can read the full issue here: https://www.dbtbulletin.org

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11/26/2025

Remember to prioritize your well-being this holiday season. Set limits with kindness, practice self-compassion, and give yourself permission to pause and recharge. Remember, taking care of your mental health is a gift to yourself and those around you.

May you practice protecting your Peace today and every day.