DBT-Informed Skills Groups
You can think of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) as a toolbox for managing what feels like a rollercoaster of tween and teen emotions and behaviors. These DBT-Informed groups are not just about talking - they are about giving your tween or teen the skills they need to transform their lives.
Understanding DBT-Informed Groups for Tweens and Teens
In short, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based approach that has been proven effective in managing intense emotions, reducing self-harming behaviors, and improving communication and relationships.
Core Principles of Adolescent DBT
The foundation of DBT lies in its four core principles: mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. These four modules are the building blocks that help teens learn how to navigate challenging teen years with the ability to control big emotions and build a healthy relationships - both with themselves and others.
Mindfulness skills teach your teen how to live in each moment, managing emotions often tied to the past or the present. Emotion regulation is all about understanding their emotions without being overwhelmed by them. Distress tolerance helps teens tolerate distress - how to deal with uncomfortable feelings without resorting to self-destructive behaviors or suicidal thoughts and actions. Finally, interpersonal effectiveness skills teach your teen the tools to build healthy relationships with others and learn how to express their own needs and wants. Combining the skills under these four modules makes for an incredibly effective therapy program aimed at building true transformation in your teen.
Components and Structure of DBT-Informed Group Sessions
Our DBT groups meet weekly for either 55 or 75 minutes and are ongoing, which means that they are not set to end after a particular number of weeks. We recommend participating for 6-8 months at minimum to cover all of the principles of DBT; however, many of our group members stay much longer and continue to learn and practice their skills. These groups are more than just discussions - each week a new skill from one of the above-mentioned four principles is introduced and will typically include some sort of interactive experience to help your teen solidify their ability to learn and apply the skill in real-life scenarios. A typical group session, which is always run by a highly trained and skilled therapist, will start with a check-in - an opportunity for each teen to share something about their week and continue to enhance connections with other group members. After our check-in, a new skill is introduced. Through discussions, worksheets, activities, art projects, and role-playing, your teen will get hands-on practice applying their new coping skills directly related to managing the individual challenges that they face daily. This combination of understanding the concrete skill and learning how to apply it to their lives provides not only immediate relief but also long-term resilience against many of the challenges they are facing.
Benefits of Attending DBT-Informed Skills Groups
If your teen attends group regularly and consistently, you can expect them to see a marked reduction in overwhelming emotions, improved ability to tolerate distressing situations, decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression, reduced impulsivity and reactivity, and a decrease in self-harm and/or suicidal thoughts and behaviors. In short, your teen will have the opportunity to both build their toolbox and also increase their self-confidence and worth. This, combined with the opportunity to connect with other teens and learn that they are not alone, is a true recipe for developing overall improved happiness and, as DBT would say, building a life worth living.
Outside of Group
While these groups provide an excellent opportunity for skill growth and application, most of our clients also participate in individual therapy as well. Whether your teen’s therapist is at CFE or not, our group therapists will coordinate care to ensure that your teen’s team is all on the same page in terms of what your teen is learning and what goals they are working towards achieving. Our group therapists also meet weekly for supervision and consultation to ensure our team is always providing the highest level of care.
Enrollment in Tween and Teen DBT-Informed Groups
If you’re ready for your tween or teen to get started on this journey, please reach out using the button below. Our office manager, Tiffanie, will then reach out to you to schedule an intake session - this is an opportunity for you/your teen to meet individually with the group therapist to ensure we have all the information needed to make groups tailored to include each individual’s unique needs. After the intake session is complete, your teen will be assigned to a DBT group based on age and need. Reaching out to us is the first step - if you can get your teen in the door, we can get them to stay.