Family DBT Skills Group

One of the greatest limiting factors in treatment progress has been the inability of families to adapt to a now healthier and well-adjusted DBT program graduate. This problem has been directly addressed by the creation of a completely separate DBT Skills Training track that is strictly for motivated family members of participants in the general DBT Skills Group.

The efficiency of applying new DBT skills is greatly increasable when the family also learns the same skills. And have become adept at using those DBT skills. Family Skills participants need to remain in individual therapy with a DBT therapist for the entire course.

Participants in the Family DBT Skills Group will master four skill sets:

Mindfulness Skills

Family group members are taught to observe, describe and participate in thoughts, sensations, feelings and external phenomena without judging these experiences as “good” or “bad.” Mindfulness skills are essential to successful progression in the DBT Program.

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills

Family participants learn to constructively assert their needs and manage conflict in their relationships. Interpersonal effectiveness is establishable through learning and practicing highly effective skills-sets.

Emotion Regulation Skills

Emotional regulation skills help group members identify and manage emotional responses in healthy and adaptive ways. The tools learned in this module help reduce any negative emotional surge that may result from an adverse event.

Distress Tolerance Skills

Family group participants learn new ways to accept and tolerate distress without resorting to negative or destructive behaviors.

Family DBT group is a 2-hour group with two therapist guides who have intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. The curriculum includes a number of modules that run over the course of 22 weeks. Family DBT Skills Group is an excellent resource to help the entire family system heal after experiencing negative symptoms of mental health and co-occurring substance abuse issues.