DBT Skills Training
Building practical skills for navigating emotions, relationships, and life’s challenges with greater confidence.
Sometimes knowing what you want to change isn't enough. You may understand your emotions, but still feel overwhelmed by them. You may want healthier relationships, but find yourself falling into familiar patterns. Or you may simply wish you had better tools for getting through difficult moments.
DBT Skills Training provides practical, evidence-based tools that you can begin using in your everyday life.
What Is DBT Skills Training?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was originally developed to help individuals experiencing intense emotional and interpersonal difficulties. Today, DBT skills are also widely used to help people develop healthier ways of coping with stress, emotions, relationships, and everyday challenges.
The goal isn't to eliminate difficult emotions or to change who you are. Instead, DBT teaches you how to understand your experiences, respond more effectively, and create more balance in your life.
The Four DBT Skill Training Modules
Mindfulness
Learning to slow down, stay present, and notice your thoughts, emotions, and experiences with greater awareness and intention. Through observing, describing, and participating, you can learn to engage with the present moment without judgment, while practicing effectiveness and mindful awareness in your everyday life.
Distress Tolerance
Learning to tolerate and move through painful or overwhelming moments without making the situation harder. Distress tolerance skills can help you accept what cannot be changed in the moment, manage intense emotions, and get through difficult situations without acting impulsively. Through skills such as radical acceptance, distraction, self-soothing, and improving the moment, you can learn to create space between what you feel and how you respond.
Emotion Regulation
Learning to understand, name, and respond to your emotions with greater awareness rather than feeling controlled by them. Emotion regulation skills can help you identify emotional patterns, reduce emotional vulnerability, and navigate intense feelings more effectively. Through skills such as understanding the function of emotions, checking the facts, opposite action, and building positive experiences, you can develop more balanced and effective ways of responding to what you feel.
Interpersonal
Effectiveness
Learning to communicate your needs, set boundaries, and navigate relationships while maintaining both your self-respect and connection with others. Interpersonal effectiveness skills can help you express yourself clearly, manage conflict, and build healthier, more balanced relationships. Through skills such as DEAR MAN, GIVE, and FAST, you can learn to ask for what you need, say no when necessary, and communicate with greater confidence and effectiveness.