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Treatment at TUBA is a psychotherapeutic support to handle the transition from having lived with a family with abuse problems to having a satisfying personal life.

Treatment for adolescents growing up in families with abuse problems sometimes takes place in organizations, though usually the primary focus is treatment of substance abusers. The treatment of adolescents is secondary in these organizations because the primary goal of the treatment is for the substance abuser to stop using and family reunification. This structure reflects the conditions in the family with abuse, where the adolescents also come second. The purpose of TUBA is to create a special place where the focus is on the interests of the adolescent.

At TUBA, we believe there can be many paths to a satisfying life. Our experience has been our adolescents have very different living conditions, views on the world and therapeutic goals. The more clearly we understand the goals of the adolescents when they arrive at TUBA, the more help we can provide to them.

TUBA approaches psychotherapy as a close collaboration between the adolescent and the psychotherapist on the goals and means of the therapy (Cooper & McLeod 2007; Duncan, Miller & Sparks 2004). TUBA’s approach to the adolescents may vary, because the adolescents want different types of help, because their goals with the psychotherapy are different, and because their perceptions of a satisfactory life are different. Psychotherapy at TUBA is therefore always a collaboration between a therapist and the adolescent on a path for the adolescent towards a satisfactory life.

Our focus on collaboration means the therapists of TUBA need a broad repertoire of methods to match the goals, views of the world and current situations of the adolescents as much as possible. At TUBA, our approach to therapeutic skills is therefore pluralistic (Cooper & McLeod 2007). That is to say, TUBA would like the psychotherapy to incorporate the creative use of methods based on the desires of the adolescents. We therefore focus on meeting the adolescent where he or she is. We believe methodical regimentation limits the options of the adolescents, and may mean we apprehend the perspectives the adolescents have on their change. Although psychotherapists are often trained in specialties, we look for therapists, who are oriented to a wide array of methods and enabled to customize the course and approach with the individual adolescent as much as possible.