The exposure & response prevention hierarchy
Thank you for visiting our site! This is the main menu for the treatment steps we recommend for kids and teens. The technical terms for the process (steps) is exposure and response prevention (ERP). Exposure means facing your fear on purpose. Sometimes I (David) will refer to those steps as ‘challenges’ because they are difficult. Steps, challenges, and hierarchy all refer to the same thing. Response prevention means responding differently to the feeling of fear. A person ‘prevents’ themself from ‘responding’ in the same way. Instead of trying to escape/avoid you practice accepting the feelings and disobey the urge that comes with the anxiety.
In July 2024 our original site was lost (long story) and this is our new site. We don’t have the menus and navigation finalized so all of the steps for kids and teens will be linked on this page rather than a menu. Links from my book may not be updated just yet. If I have not fully updated a specific step, please email me and I can share a dropbox folder with exposures I use in my practice.
On each page (step) I will place a link called Kid’s Home so you can come right back to this page.
Generally, the content assumes our reader/user is a clinician but we may address people with emetophobia, caregivers, and/or kids directly at times. Clinicians may need to make an informed judgment call on whether to use adult exposures or kid exposures for young teens.
Note to providers: When I am doing exposures with clients in my office, I usually use a large size tablet to display the exposures. If your monitor is visible that will work. A client can use their own device. When the exposure is displayed smaller (ex. phone) it is usually a bit easier but the full benefit may require a larger display. I am working on print versions as well. In other words, a bit of creativity may be required depending on office and device configurations.