When: Thursdays, 3:30-5pm
Where: In person, Orem office
Cost: $400 for the 8-Week Module, $100/month for parent section
Next Module Starts: March 6th, 2025

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a highly effective and compassionate treatment for teens struggling with intense emotions (anxiety, anger, depression, etc.), impulsive behavioral patterns, unstable relationships, strained parent/child relationships, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

Throughout the teen DBT skills group, participants will learn skills for tolerating distress (without making the moment worse), regulating emotions, effectively navigating difficult interpersonal relationships, and finding balance in their family relationships. Our upcoming module will be focused on skills to build and improve relationships. We sometimes refer to these as “interpersonal effectiveness skills.”

Modules are 8-9 weeks, and we ask parents that once they enroll their teen, it be for the remainder of the module (wherever we are at in the process). Sessions are structured to help new clients feel comfortable joining at any point in the module.

If you want to enroll in the teen DBT skills group, register below. To finalize your enrollment, we will contact you to schedule an intake appointment. Please feel free to call or email if you have any questions.

More about DBT Skills

As mentioned above, teen DBT skills class cycles through 3 modules: Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Mindfulness skills and middle path skills are also folded into each module. Read more about specific skills in each module below.

Mindfulness Skills

In DBT, we teach mindfulness as 3 “what skills” and 3 “how skills.” The “what skills” are what we do when we practice mindfulness, and we do them one at a time:

• we can observe
• we can describe
• we can participate

The “how skills” are how we do the above “what skills.” We do them all at the same time:

• we are one-mindful (the opposite of multi-tasking)
• we are non-judgmental (even non-judgmental of our judgments. ha!)
• we are effective (doing what works best for us)

Here are some example applications:

• Observe + Non-judgmental: When feeling sad, anxious, or depressed, we can observe our emotions non-judgmentally. We can exercise curiosity about physical sensations that come with the emotion. We can observe non-judgmentally our urges, or what the emotion or sensations make us want to do.
• Describe + Non-judgmental: When feeling “triggered” by a situation (something someone said or did), we can describe either the situation or our reaction. We may find ourselves using judgmental descriptions or descriptions that include assumptions (“she was trying to make me mad,” “they never care about what I think,” “he knew I would hate it, and he did it anyway”). Descriptions need to stick to the facts of any situation or reaction. We notice judgment, and pull it out. We notice self-criticism and pull it out. We notice assumptions and pull them out.
• Participate + One-mindful: When at an event, you notice you’d rather be somewhere else. Or you are enjoying an event, but you notice thoughts like, “this won’t last,” or “now people will think it’s ok, because I’m having fun right now.” Notice the thoughts, and let them go. Decide to participate all the way, throwing yourself into whatever it is you are doing. When you notice your mind wandering to another focus, bring it gently back, jumping back into the activity again. Do it over and over again, like reps in the gym.

Distress Tolerance Skills

Distress Tolerance skills are broken into 3 sections: skills to survive a crisis (without making it worse), skills to accept reality, and skills to use when the crisis is an addiction. I won’t describe every skill here but will give some skills and a general idea of the purpose of the skills in each section.

Crisis Survival Skills:

STOP skill	ACCEPTS (ways to distract)
Pros and Cons	Self-soothe (with 5 senses)
TIP your body chemistry	IMPROVE (improve the quality of the present moment)

The above are skills to help you survive an intense urge or emotion. When we are feeling intense shame or anxiety, for example, it will be very difficult to “think our way” out of the situation. Therefore, we encourage class members to practice these skills before a crisis, so that during a crisis, the skills will be there without having to think too much.

These skills help us survive a situation without digging ourselves deeper into a ditch. However, they are not the only skills we need to build a life worth living.

Reality Acceptance Skills:

Radical Acceptance	Half-Smile & Willing Hands
Turning the Mind	Mindfulness of Current Thoughts
Willingness

These skills are designed to help you accept reality as it is, not as you want it to be. Accepting reality IS NOT approving, liking, or advocating for anything. We can accept the reality of even really awful things. Remember, acceptance is not approval. It simply means we are accepting the facts of a situation, and we are not fighting against them. This does not mean we have to accept that things as they are will always be as they are. Accepting reality also means accepting the reality of change–that things change, relationships change, we change.

Fighting reality turns pain into suffering. Our goal is to end unnecessary suffering.

How do you know if you are not accepting reality? If you are rejecting reality, you might have thoughts or say things like:

• It’s not fair!
• I should know better.
• He shouldn’t have done that.
• Why me?
• Why is this happening?
• Things shouldn’t be this way.

When you notice yourself in reality rejection, try turning your mind to acceptance. Ask yourself if you can imagine accepting the situation as it is. Once it is fully accepted, you will notice possibilities open up that are in line with your values.

**Be careful with radical acceptance that you are only accepting facts. You do not have to accept assumptions, projections into the future, or guesses. But try to accept the fact that you are human and that you have assumptions, projections, and guesses.

(more to come)