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‘Brake Adjustments’

Tic Management Programming

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 Brake Jobs

Sometimes people just want to be able to stop better -- they want their brakes to work like everyone else's do! We could work on strengthening your brakes in the following way –

To read our Brake Shop clinic ‘Treatment Philosophy’, please click here.

Tic Management Treatment Programming
(‘CBIT’, or the ‘Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention for Tics’)

CBIT, or the Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention for Tics, is a treatment for tics (such as those seen in TS).  It is a more selective treatment than medications (i.e. specific tics can be targeted), and available research suggests that it is highly effective – perhaps more so than medication for some.

CBIT is a way of “bossing back” (i.e. completely eliminating) particular tic symptoms.  It involves a combination of psychoeducation, relaxation techniques, behavioural analysis, competing response training, and social support.

Here’s how it works: each time we do a tic we make it stronger, and each time we hold back from doing a tic we make it weaker.  So if we can find some way of preventing our patients from doing a particular tic, this will over time eliminate it.

Because it is unrealistic to simply suppress (or ‘hold in’) tics though, we instead pick a tic “blocker” (technically called a ‘competing response’) and work to make it strong enough to ‘beat up’ on the old tic. Each time a person does the competing response instead of the tic this makes the tic weaker.  This means we want clients to do the competing response a LOT – a lot more than they are doing the original tic, actually.  There are three important times to do the competing response – when you feel the original tic coming, if you’ve ‘slipped up’ and just did the tic, and when you are in a situation where you typically do the tic a lot.

Want to see a more detailed explanation of CBIT? Find it on  our FAQ (Treatment) page

Click here to read a first-person account of Tourette Syndrome and the practice of CBIT, by Brake Shop psychologist and creator of the original clinic model Dr. B. Duncan McKinlay.

·         Download fact sheet here

·         Download a tic treatment-specific bibliography here

·         Download our, “Tic Detective” handout here and our Competing Response Catalogue here

·         Want to support someone in this treatment?  Download instructions here, and guidance on how to be a good cheerleader here

·         Are you an agency within CPRI’s catchment area that is looking for training and ongoing consultation in this treatment?  Click here

Already taken this programming? Need more support around new target symptoms, troubleshooting assignments, relapse prevention, or strengthening motivation? Want a review of the techniques learned? Regular monthly tune-up sessions are offered the third Monday of every month. Reserve a spot any given month by contacting Brake Shop administrative support at (519) 858-2774 ext. 2025.

Treatment services provided, if deemed necessary, are determined in partnership with the family on an individual basis.  Services are tailored to each client's needs, and do not replicate/replace services available and/or existing within the local community.

Treatment typically includes ‘maintenance checks’ (phone check-ins) and/or ‘tune-ups’ (booster sessions) at approximately 6 weeks and 6 months.

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Brake Shop Clinic home page.