Question 1

Is this therapy?

Accepted Answer

No. It's skills training, and the distinction matters for your liability and your parents. Dr. Kelly is a licensed clinical psychologist, but nobody is diagnosed, nothing enters a student record, and no student is treated. It's taught like any other subject — the way you'd teach study skills or CPR.

Question 2

What grade levels does this work for?

Accepted Answer

Built for high school, and it runs well from about 7th grade up. The language shifts with the room; the four skill sets don't.

Question 3

Do our teachers need to be clinicians?

Accepted Answer

No, and that's the point of the Faculty Training track. The material is designed to be delivered by teachers and counselors after training. Dr. Kelly leads cohorts directly when a school wants that, but the model is built so it doesn't depend on her being in the building.

Question 4

How much instructional time does this actually take?

Accepted Answer

The Integrated Curriculum fits a standard wellness, advisory or health block across the year. The After-School Cohort is one session a week for eight weeks, outside the schedule entirely — which is why most schools pilot there first.

Question 5

Is DBT evidence-based?

Accepted Answer

DBT is the gold-standard skills training developed by Marsha Linehan and studied for four decades across populations. Dr. Kelly trained with Linehan through NIMH and wrote her dissertation on DBT for adolescent development. What's newer is delivering it preventively, in classrooms, before students need it clinically.

Question 6

What happens if a student discloses something serious?

Accepted Answer

You get a written escalation protocol before day one, built to route to your existing counseling staff and mandated-reporter procedures. The program is designed to surface these conversations earlier, so the referral path has to be settled in advance. That's part of onboarding, not an afterthought.

Question 7

Do we need parent consent?

Accepted Answer

That's your call and your district's policy — it's an educational program, not treatment. Most schools notify rather than seek consent. Some run the optional parent component alongside the cohort, which tends to answer the question before it's asked.

Question 8

How do we pay for it?

Accepted Answer

Schools have funded it through wellness and SEL budgets, PD allocations, mental-health grants, and parent associations. Bring your constraint to the call and we'll shape the track around it.

Question 9

How do we know it's working?

Accepted Answer

Student workbooks and assessments are built into the Integrated Curriculum, plus quarterly check-ins with Dr. Kelly. Most schools also watch what they already track — referrals, incidents, attendance.

Now in Pilot at Select Schools

Get Real In you Classrooms.

— Dr. J.J. Kelly, Psy.D.

2 in 5

61%

~50%

The skills students need most aren't in the curriculum. We can change that.

TM

The Get Real Program

What Students Learn

Four modules. Real outcomes.

The same DBT skill sets that work clinically, taught for the classroom, in language teens engage with.

01

Mindfulness

Observe, describe, participate. Notice thoughts as thoughts — not as facts.

BETTER FOCUS · LESS REACTIVITY

02

Distress Tolerance

Move through hard moments without making them worse. Radical acceptance as a skill, not a slogan.

FEWER OUTBURSTS · SAFER SELF-MANAGEMENT

03

Emotion Regulation

A working vocabulary for feelings — beyond "good," "bad," and "fine."

LESS AVOIDANCE · MORE SELF-AWARENESS

04

Interpersonal Effectiveness

Ask for things, say no, resolve conflict — without losing yourself or the relationship.

LESS BULLYING · STRONGER PEER SKILLS

How It Works

Three ways to bring it in.

We adapt the program to what your school can absorb. From a full integrated curriculum to a teach-the-teachers model.

Integrated Curriculum

After-School Cohort

Faculty Training

Meet Dr. J.J. Kelly

"If we just got DBT into the curriculum in high school, we would prevent a lot of these diagnoses."

— DR. J.J. KELLY · INSIDE MENTAL HEALTH PODCAST (PSYCH CENTRAL)

Her clients range from teens to corporate execs — but her conviction is that if she had to pick one room to drop these skills into, it would be a high school classroom.

FOR ADMINS & COUNSELORS

Frequently asked