top of page

DBT Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Define Your Duende: A Teen DBT Skills Group (In-Person)

 

This in-person dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills group is designed for teenagers seeking to develop effective coping strategies, improve communication, and build a supportive community. Through engaging activities and guided practice, participants will learn valuable regulation skills to navigate life's challenges with greater confidence and resilience.

 

What to Expect:

​

  • Learn and Practice Essential Skills: We will cover the full DBT curriculum, a four-module framework designed to help teens manage their emotions, improve their relationships, and live a more balanced life. The modules include:​​

​​

  1. Mindfulness: Develop awareness and focus on the present moment, reducing stress and anxiety.

  2. Emotional Regulation: Understand and manage intense emotions in a healthy way.

  3. Interpersonal Effectiveness: Enhance communication and build healthier relationships.​

  4. Distress Tolerance: Learn how to tolerate and survive a crisis without making things worse.

​​

  • Supportive Community: Connect with peers in a safe and non-judgmental environment.

 

  • Expert Guidance: Led by an experienced therapist, this group offers professional support and personalized feedback.

​​

Logistics:

  • Location: 2975 Valmont Rd. Suite 310, Boulder, CO

  • Time: To be announced (likely Thursday evenings, beginning in September 2025)

  • Therapist & Facilitator: To be announced

​​

Pricing & Included Services:

  • Intake Session: $110 (One-time fee)

  • Weekly Group Session: $60 per session

  • Individual Check-in Sessions: $55 per session (as needed, not a regular charge)

​​

Each participant's enrollment includes:

  1. Weekly One-Hour In-Person Group Session: Consistent skill-building and group interaction.

  2. Optional 30-Minute DBT Check-in Sessions: Choose one or two of the following as scheduled:

    • Teen-Only Check-in: A one-on-one phone or video call with the facilitator to review progress and personalize skill application.

    • Parent/Guardian Check-in: A call with the facilitator to discuss the skills taught that month and check on the teen's progress.

    • Family Check-in: A joint meeting for the teen and their guardian(s) with the facilitator to discuss progress and coordinate support.

 

WHAT IS DBT?

The goal of DBT is to help clients build a life that they experience as worth living. In DBT, the client and the therapist work together to set goals that are meaningful to the client. Often this means they work on ways to decrease harmful behaviors and replace them with effective, life-enhancing behaviors.

 

There are four modules in skills training:

  • Mindfulness: the practice of being fully aware and present in this one moment

  • Distress Tolerance: how to tolerate pain in difficult situations, not change it

  • Interpersonal Effectiveness: how to ask for what you want and say no while maintaining self-respect and relationships with others

  • Emotion Regulation: how to change emotions that you want to change

​​

Problematic behaviors evolve as a way to cope with a situation or attempt to solve a problem. While these behaviors might provide temporary relief or a short-term solution, they often are not effective in the long-term. DBT assumes that clients are doing the best they can, AND they need to learn new behaviors in all relevant contexts. DBT helps enhance a client’s capabilities by teaching behavioral skills in areas like mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills help people develop effective ways to navigate situations that arise in everyday life or manage specific challenges.

 

The term “dialectical” means a synthesis or integration of opposites. The primary dialectic within DBT is between the seemingly opposite strategies of acceptance and change. For example, DBT therapists accept clients as they are while also acknowledging that they need to change in order to reach their goals. In addition, all of the skills and strategies taught in DBT are balanced in terms of acceptance and change. For example, the four skills modules include two sets of acceptance-oriented skills (mindfulness and distress tolerance) and two sets of change-oriented skills (emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness).

 

-*Adapted from https://behavioraltech.org/resources/faqs/dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt/

© 2017 Define Your Duende LLC

bottom of page