Atlanta DBT Skills Group FAQ’s
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the most effective form of therapy including coping skills to decrease impulsivity, be more mindful and in control of your emotions, and to help regulate emotions and harmful thoughts. This form of therapy was developed by Marsha Linehan to help accept pain and validate emotions in addition to changing behaviors that are no longer helpful.
When/where does it meet?
Every Thursday 4:30-6:00pm via Zoom
How much is it?
$65/week + one-time DBT Group Intake Session $180
What are the requirements to join?
DBT Group Intake Session
Consistent individual therapy (can be individual therapist outside Avalon Psychotherapy)
Do I have to wait for the next module to start before I can join?
No. This group is continually open which means you can start in the middle of a module. The DBT skills are taught in the same consecutive order.
How do I sign up?
What is the structure of the group?
Mindfulness exercise
DBT Skill use check-in including reviewing homework, Diary Card, goals
Didactic DBT Skill of the week lesson taught from Marsha Linehan’s DBT Skills Training Workbook
How much Homework is there?
Daily Diary Card
Occasional additional worksheet (i.e. goals, building mastery, PLEASE skill, Intensity of Emotions chart, self-care assessment, etc)
What are the four modules?
Mindfulness- How to practice being present instead of worrying about the future or the past.
Emotion Regulation- How to take care of yourself emotionally/physically/cognitively to prevent emotional overwhelm.
Distress Tolerance- How to cope effectively with intense emotions to minimize/prevent acting out (harmful ways of coping that make the situation worse).
Interpersonal Effectiveness- How to communicate to others in a helpful way, validate self/others, set helpful boundaries.
What is DBT helpful with?
Anxiety from life issues (relationships, work, self-care, family, finances, academics, etc)
Identifying and replacing harmful behaviors with helpful behaviors
Feeling confident and in control of your emotions and thoughts
Relationship communication/boundaries
Self-confidence
Sleep, food, substance issues
Goals (job, hobby, financial, health, etc)
What is a Diary Card?
A worksheet/app on your phone for a daily check-in about:
What emotions do you feel each day? Are they Low, Medium, High Intensity?
Harmful behaviors you are wanting to decrease
Helpful behaviors you are wanting to increase
Any DBT skills attempted ranging from “Noticed an opportunity to use a skill” to “Tried to use a skill on purpose and it worked”
How is this Adult DBT Group different from others?
Process vs structure: We balance time to both process what is happening in each group member’s life with structuring the time to cover the DBT Skill Lesson of the week.
Gray skill-use scale: Instead of focusing on when you DID or DIDN’T use a skill, we notice all the effort in between.
Goals worksheet: I have created a custom Goals Worksheet specifically for identifying short-term and long-term goals during a pandemic and how to apply DBT Skills to achieve them.
PLEASE skill add-on: I expand this skill to also include boundaries for self-care around Social Media, the News, and Dating apps as these affect our mood and mindset.
Intensity of Emotions chart: I created a customizable chart for each group member to identify what emotions they experience within categories (Angry, Afraid, Sad, etc).
What about my current individual therapist? What if they aren’t familiar with DBT?
That’s ok. I encourage you to stay with your current therapist if you are established with them. If they aren’t familiar with DBT, I have a consultation with them about how to integrate DBT Skills into individual therapy to increase the effectiveness of DBT.
