In the spring of 2025, our clinicians will offer a new way to help clients build resilience and lessen harmful behaviors through a brand-new offering at JF&CS: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills groups.

DBT is a modality that embraces the seemingly opposite ideas of acceptance and change – with the “dialectic” in DBT literally meaning “the existence of opposites.” This therapy has been proven to help reduce self-harm behavior, anger, and drug and alcohol misuse, and to improve depressive symptoms.

In DBT, ‘acceptance’ means an individual learns to validate his or her behavior and experiences, and ‘change’ means that an individual knows positive changes are necessary to move forward and manage difficult emotions.

Keith Myers, PhD, LPC, ACS, Managing Director of Clinical Services, has spearheaded the effort to assemble a DBT skills team here at JF&CS, and is facilitating the process as this idea becomes a reality.

“We all experience hardship, suffering and loss,” says Keith, “and for some there’s a need for more resources, different ways of coping, and different ways to view their challenges. Being able to fully accept what is happening to ourselves can be radically transformational- but of course it’s easier said than done.”

What is DBT?

DBT was first developed in the 1970’s and has been found to be effective over the years across a variety of mental health and substance disorders.

The dialectics of acceptance and change are taught through four key skills:

• Mindfulness: This is the practice of being fully aware and focused in the present moment, rather than ruminating on the past or worrying about the future.
• Distress tolerance: understanding and managing the emotions that arise in difficult or stressful moments, without responding in harmful ways
• Interpersonal effectiveness: understanding an individual’s role in relationships, setting boundaries, and asking for what you want and need, while maintaining respect for self and others
• Emotion regulation: understanding, being more aware of and having more control over emotions

DBT skills can give clients a good foundation for deeper therapy, says Keith. “It’s important for clients to have a repertoire of skills to be able to stay regulated, to be present, and to know how to cope well before getting into the deeper, more difficult work,” says Keith, “so sometimes I’ll refer clients to DBT classes before we do something like trauma therapy.”

What is a Skills Group, and How Can it Help?

DBT Skills Groups will be available to JF&CS clients in spring of 2025. Skills Groups are not the same as group therapy; rather, they are teaching sessions among a group of peers. Groups typically last six months, with one meeting per month.

“While the groups can be beneficial for a variety of people, they are particularly helpful when coping with issues related to complex trauma, depression, and suicidality as well as people who need help regulating their emotions, some personality disorders, and more,” says Keith. “The skills help clients empower themselves to either radically accept what’s happening to them and what they’re experiencing, and/or help them with actual behavioral change. It depends on the situation.”

Keith recalls a client he worked with a few years ago. “She had come in to do some trauma work and revealed to me that her former eating disorder behaviors were spiking, and she was really struggling with those. I told her she needed to do six months of DBT classes to find healthy ways to cope, and she came back and said, ‘DBT saved my life.’ She told me that things had gotten much darker for her than she was initially telling me prior to the classes. She’d been suffering from suicidal thoughts and doing other risky behaviors like substance abuse. Learning the DBT skills were a lifesaver for her.”

We’re proud to be adding DBT Skills Groups to our clinical offerings. To stay updated, subscribe to our Feel Better Letter, and to reach Clinical Services, click here.