EASE + UP - Adults 18-25

STUDY BASICS

Want help understanding your emotions or are you struggling? We are testing two mental health therapies, Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE) and Unified Protocol (UP). Both programs teach skills to help understand and process emotions, and both involve 16-20 weekly therapy sessions. Compensation is provided.

STUDY PURPOSE

We are testing two mental health therapies, Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE) and Unified Protocol (UP). Both programs teach skills to help understand and process emotions. They both use an affirming approach that encourages personal development, and both involve 16-20 weekly therapy sessions. EASE is a mindfulness-based program that was specifically designed for autistic people. UP is a highly customizable cognitive-behavioral based program that meets the needs of people with a variety of diagnoses. Our goal is to find out which program is more helpful for autistic people.

COULD THIS STUDY BE RIGHT FOR YOU?

• We are looking for autistic young adults ages 18-25 who want to strengthen their emotion regulation skills.
• The study is open to people with a range of communication abilities. Participants must be able to consent to the study themselves and answer questions about themselves.
• Participants need to have a support person that could answer questions about them. This could be a parent, caregiver, family member, partner or friend.
• Participant must live in Alabama or Pennsylvania

WHAT PARTICIPANTS CAN EXPECT

• Assigned to one of two therapy programs
• Attend 16-20 weekly therapy sessions, which can be in-person or telehealth with providers from our partnering community agencies 
• Complete interviews before and after therapy
• Complete surveys before therapy, half way through therapy, after therapy and three months after finishing therapy