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What is DBT?

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) helps people increase their resilience and build a life worth living. Grounded in mindfulness, DBT works to raise your ability to both change the things you can and accept the things you cannot.  This evidenced-based method has been shown to be highly effective with people who find it difficult to control their emotions and effectively handle distress, such as those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and those who contemplate suicide. It is also extremely effective for those who have a hard time managing personal relationships, especially those who find themselves maintaining connections with people who take advantage of them or treat them poorly.

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What are DBT Skills Groups?

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DBT Skills Groups are where people can learn the skills to help them be more mindful. Divided into the four areas of Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness, skills are taught, discussed, and practiced alongside group members and facilitators in such a way as to provide both instruction and support from each other. Each of the three modules of DBT  have their own unique content, but work together to provide you with a stronger ability to control your impulses, change unwanted emotions reactions, and increase the overall health of your relationships. 

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Within each module, groups meet from 8 to 10 weeks, and will be led by two duly qualified licensed therapists trained in DBT, David Terraso, LMSW and Katie Herzer, LCSW. David is under clinical supervision of Tara Arnold, LCSW and Patrick Bryant, LCSW, NBCCH. 

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*All participants in DBT Skills Group must have a current and active relationship with an individual therapist, with whom they meet routinely. This group is not psychotherapy, nor is it a replacement for psychotherapy.

Distress Tolerance

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The Distress Tolerance module teaches you how to:

 

  1. Survive crisis situations without making them worse

  2. Accept reality and replace suffering with ordinary pain and the possibility of moving forward

  3. Become free of being controlled by your own desires, urges, and intense emotions

 

This eight-week module begins with two weeks of mindfulness-based instruction followed by six weeks of learning, practicing, and supporting distress tolerance skills.

Waves on the Rocks

January 12 - March 16
DBT Skills Group for High School Teens

Balance
Balance

Emotional Regulation

The Emotion Regulation module teaches you how to:

 

  1. Understand and name your emotions

  2. Decrease the frequency of unwanted emotions

  3. Decrease emotional vulnerability

  4. Decrease emotional suffering

 

This eight-week module begins with two weeks of mindfulness-based instruction followed by six weeks of learning, practicing, and supporting emotion regulation skills.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

The Interpersonal Effectiveness module teaches you how to:

 

  1. Be skillful in getting what you want and need

  2. Build relationships and end destructive ones

  3. Walk the middle path

 

This ten-week module begins with two weeks of mindfulness-based instruction followed by six weeks of learning, practicing, and supporting interpersonal effectiveness skills.

Water drops near a stack of stones

June - August
DBT Skills Group for High School Teens

Contact us for a brief consultation to better understand if this group is a good fit. We offer up to 15 minutes via phone to hear what you're looking for and answer questions to the best of our ability. If this groups is determined to be a good fit for your needs, we will schedule an intake session, which will be completed prior to starting the group.

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