dbt courses
We offer courses through our Get Real Program, an emotional skills training program based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT was developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan and combines Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Zen Mindfulness skills from Thich Nhat Hahn’s book, The Miracle of Mindfulness. DBT is The Shit, and Dr. Kelly makes learning a complex set of concepts and skills fun and funny. “Yer gonna laugh yourself right into healthy…” – Dr. Kelly
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Build awareness of your emotional experiences
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Build a vocabulary of emotion words to enhance awareness and competency to communicate your emotions
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Build a framework for increasing your chances of getting what you want when you ask for something or say no to something/someONE
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Build a life worth living
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Increase your capacity to experience joy and calm
Dr. Kelly never liked the dependency created in traditional psychotherapy and ascribes to a “TEACH a kid to fish” philosophy. Therefore, Dr. Kelly wants it to get less expensive, more group-learning-based, and more independent the longer you want to learn.
WHAT IS DBT ANYWAY?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Think of a Venn diagram: 2 circles evenly intersecting. Two seemingly opposite concepts in a harmonious integration: Light/Dark, Right/Wrong, All/Nothing...that's basically a dialectic. So, I tell folks that Dialectical Behavior Therapy is kind of a Zen mindfulness meets assertiveness training (or CBT Cognitive Behavior Therapy).
Originally developed by psychologist Marsha M. Linehan for clients with borderline personality disorder, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) has also been proven effective in other populations. If you want to change target behaviors and improve your quality of life, coping skills training can help.
DBT is being used to address target behaviors such as:
• Ongoing conflicts in relationships
• Intense and rapid mood changes
• Inability to relax
• Trouble recognizing choice
• Holding in your anger, then “blowing up” at others
• Impulsive or reactive decisions you often regret
• Self-medicating with substances, e.g., food, sugar, alcohol,
"busy-ness", spending, etc.
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Avoiding responsibilities, people, or events
• “Numbing out” in response to fear, anger, etc.
What Is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and What Will I Learn?
The skills training component of DBT features classes that are structured so that you will progress through — and master — four different sets of skills.
Mindfulness - The Backbone
The sessions start with an introduction to the Zen Buddhist concept of “mindfulness.” This encourages you to:
• increase your ability to observe, describe and participate in life
• live your life in the current moment — accept reality — and yourself — without judgment
Distress Tolerance -Ridin' It OUT
Next, the class teaches distress tolerance skills. DBT emphasizes learning the skills of:
• tolerating and surviving a crisis
• accepting life as it is in the moment
• meeting pain head on to actually reduce suffering
Emotion Regulation -WAIT!-Breathe....THEN Decide and Act
The third curriculum module centers on emotion regulation skills. DBT classes help you to:
• identify and label emotions, thus increasing your “emotional vocabulary”
• identify obstacles to changing your emotions.
• reduce vulnerability to negative emotions
• enhance positive emotional events
Interpersonal Effectiveness- Tying it ALL together
• building mastery and self-respect
• balancing your priorities with the demands in your life
• saying “no”
• resisting pressure
• maintaining a position or point of view
• how to ask for things
• how to initiate a discussion
• effective conflict resolution