Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT is an empirically validated treatment designed to address emotional dysregulation, mood instability, and impulsive behaviors. Individuals who benefit from DBT often experience intense emotions that are difficult to tolerate and manage. These emotions can lead to problematic or impulsive behaviors, which are understood as attempts to cope with or regulate emotional distress.

DBT is comprised of four essential components:

1. Individual Therapy: Clients participate in weekly individual DBT sessions focused on identifying treatment goals, monitoring target behaviors, and tracking progress through the use of a diary card. Sessions emphasize applying and generalizing skills to everyday situations while helping clients make progress toward their broader treatment goals.

2. DBT Skills Group: In some cases, clients also attend a weekly DBT Skills Group focused on learning, practicing, and generalizing skills. The curriculum includes four core areas: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. Adolescents and their caregivers learn an additional skill set called Walking the Middle Path.

3. Phone and Text Coaching: Phone and text coaching provide clients with real-time support in applying DBT skills to challenging situations as they arise. This component helps bridge the gap between learning skills in therapy and effectively using them in everyday life.

4. DBT Consultation Team: The DBT Consultation Team is a weekly forum in which Behavior Therapy Group clinicians collaborate, discuss clinical challenges, and develop treatment strategies. This collaborative process supports therapist effectiveness and helps ensure that clients receive thoughtful, consistent, and comprehensive care.

DBT Groups

Adult DBT Skills Training Group

The Behavior Therapy Group offers DBT Skills Training Groups for adults. The goal of the group is to equip participants with practical skills to better understand, tolerate, and manage difficult emotions and strong behavioral urges. The curriculum covers four core modules: Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Each 90-minute session follows a structured format that includes mindfulness practice, homework review, and instruction and practice of new skills.

Participation in the group requires individuals to be engaged in weekly individual DBT therapy with a clinician at The Behavior Therapy Group or, in certain circumstances, with a DBT clinician known to our practice. Groups meet weekly for 90 minutes and the program runs for 24 weeks. Rolling admission is available, with new participants joining at the beginning of each new skills module.

Multi-Family Skills Group (MFSG)

The Behavior Therapy Group also offers DBT MFSG for adolescents and their caregiver, typically one parent. The goal of the group is to equip adolescents and their caregivers with practical skills to better understand, tolerate, and manage difficult emotions and strong behavioral urges. The curriculum covers four core modules: Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Walking the Middle Path. Orientation and Mindfulness skills are introduced during the first two weeks of each module and incorporated into the beginning of every group session with an in vivo mindfulness practice. Each 90-minute session follows a structured format that includes mindfulness practice, homework review, and instruction and practice of new skills.

Participation in the group requires adolescents to be engaged in weekly individual DBT therapy. Caregivers are also expected to participate in regular or as-needed parent consultations with a clinician at The Behavior Therapy Group to support skill development and reinforce the use of DBT strategies at home. Adolescents and their caregiver attend the same weekly group. The program runs for 24 weeks, with rolling admission available at the beginning of each new skills module.

DBT Parent Consultation

The Behavior Therapy Group offers parent consultation to help caregivers develop effective strategies for supporting children and adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties. Parent consultation incorporates principles of DBT, behavioral psychology, and evidence-based parenting practices. Parent consultation has several goals:

1. Mindful Parenting: Help parents respond thoughtfully and effectively to their child’s emotional and behavioral needs using a DBT-informed approach, rather than reacting impulsively or emotionally during challenging interactions.

2. Parent Emotion Regulation: Help parents recognize, understand, and regulate their own emotional responses, particularly when navigating difficult parenting moments that may trigger frustration, anxiety, or feelings of helplessness.

3. Behavioral Intervention and Planning: Develop individualized behavioral plans to address specific concerns and target behaviors. Interventions may incorporate behavioral principles such as positive reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and appropriate consequences to promote meaningful behavior change.

4. Parent Support and Validation: Provide a confidential, supportive, and validating environment in which parents can openly discuss their feelings, concerns, and challenges associated with raising a child who experiences mental health difficulties, emotional dysregulation, or problematic behaviors. Parent consultation is tailored to each family's needs and treatment goals. Depending on the clinical circumstances, consultations may be scheduled on an ongoing basis or as needed.