Emotions are a valuable part of what it means to be human. They alert us to what matters to us, to things that need to change, and help provide the motivation to make those changes. They help us connect with other people, avoid danger, and give us valuable information to inform our decisions.

But sometimes our emotions can take over and feel like they run our life. When they get so overwhelmingly big like that, we lose some of the valuable parts. Instead of connecting with others, overwhelming depression and anger lead us to push them away. Instead of making healthy decisions, hopelessness pushes us to self sabotage and self harm. We lose our cool in an argument and say things we later regret, damaging relationships that really matter to us and pushing us further into loneliness.

It can interfere with our lives in big ways at home, at work, at school; it can negatively impact our social connectedness, family life, and the way that we see ourselves. As overwhelming as it can be, thankfully DBT can help.

 Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skills based therapy (individual and group) that is specifically designed to help you create balance with your head and your heart. Using mindfulness as the foundation, DBT teaches you how to manage emotions, find healthy ways to reduce distress, improve your relationships, and create a life you want to live. In fact, this type of therapy is broken into four modules that each teach an array of skills. Those four modules are: Core Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Distress Tolerance.

It addresses things like…

• How to be more present in the moment rather than lost in your head, the past, or worry about the future

• How to navigate difficult conversations, ask for what you want, or say no while balancing respect for the other person and respect for yourself

• How to approach overwhelming emotions and find calm without self harm or other unhelpful coping mechanisms and without hurting important relationships

• How to calm impulsivity and be more in control and intentional rather than simply reacting

  …With tangible, concrete skills you can start using immediately.

Groups are an important part of DBT therapy–it’s where we teach you the skills you need to learn while giving you opportunities to practice those skills, refine them, and get comfortable with them. We keep our groups small so we can give more attention to each member.

We offer groups for teens, their parents, and young adults. Because we have found that DBT works best for teens when the entire family knows the skills they are learning in group, we created a separate group for parents to learn. The teen group and the parent group are held separately but mirror each other to help you learn the skills and practice them together at home.

Call us for more information about our schedule!