Slow DBT
Skills at the speed of you. Real DBT—just with more breathing room.
Because learning takes repetition, discussion, and time to connect the dots. Not racing through the curriculum and hoping your nervous system keeps up.
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), designed by Marsha Linehan, was originally created for folks diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). In BPD, emotional experiences are often more intense than the average person’s, with a slower return to baseline.
These folks often experience chronically volatile relationships—with other people, themselves, their bodies, and their ability to see hope in the world. DBT quickly became the gold standard for treatment in this population.
Model-adherent DBT consists of four components:
- Individual weekly DBT therapy
- DBT skills group
- Skills coaching available 24/7
- A consultation group for the DBT therapists
We offer individual DBT therapy at Worth the Fight Counseling, and skills coaching is available through a free-to-client text app 24/7.
Why Slow DBT?
DBT skills group is divided into four modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness.
Many skills groups are run so that a group learns all the DBT skills within 6 months, meeting once a week. This timetable makes sense to many people. Others repeat the full curriculum twice for a year’s worth of skills training. This works for a lot of people—one could even say most people.
But some folks, myself included, need more time. These concepts are just plain foreign and take much more conversation to grasp.
All respect to Marsha, but we believe the DBT skills group could use a bit of a slow down.
Slow DBT combines the manualized DBT skills group with more breathing room. We only move on to the next skill concept when there is a true understanding of the material, rather than being bound by a strict timeline. Because of this, each cohort will be a little out of step with the others, so switching between groups may be difficult.
Ground Rules & Logistics
The rules below aren’t exhaustive, but they set the groundwork for what you can expect:
- Individual Therapy: You will need an individual therapist that you see at least twice a month (preferably weekly) while participating in our skills group. You can absolutely see a therapist outside of the WTF practice, and they do not have to be trained in DBT.
- Collaboration: Your therapist will need to agree to discuss your case with a skills trainer to identify possible growth points (after you sign a release of information). We cannot enroll clients who are unwilling to allow this collaboration.
- Assessment: If you are not a current individual client of WTF Counseling, you will need to complete a 50-minute assessment session with a skills trainer to ensure this group is the right fit. This can be billed to insurance, or paid out-of-pocket for $125.
- Location & Size: Groups are currently held via Zoom and are capped at no more than 8 people. If groups fill up, you may be placed on a waitlist.
- Cost: We will attempt to bill insurance for group sessions. If your insurance does not cover group therapy, you will be responsible for the out-of-pocket cost.
DBT calls for a time commitment, in addition to a commitment to being uncomfortable while fighting for the life you want—or to being uncomfortable while figuring out how to want to live. We are all in this together. Let’s get started.
Let’s Do This.
Fill out the form below and I will be in touch about the next possible steps for joining a Slow DBT group.