Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Skills Group

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy that treats individuals who have difficulty regulating emotions and behaviors.

The goals of our DBT skills group include replacing problem behaviors with more adaptive ways of coping with distress and to help both adolescents and adults create a “life worth living.”

Our DBT skills group involves taking action and participating in changing one’s thoughts through the use of specific coping techniques and psycho-education. It has been proven to help people make positive and long-term behavior changes.

Groups are available for adults and adolescents and take place at both our Scottsdale and Chandler locations.

Our program is divided into four skills modules which include mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.

• Mindfulness is designed to teach a person how to focus their mind and attention.
• Distress tolerance is centered on accepting the current situation and finding ways to survive and tolerate the moment without engaging in problematic behaviors.
• Emotion regulation skills include learning to identify and label current emotions, identifying obstacles to changing emotions, reducing emotional reactivity, increasing positive emotions and changing emotions.
• Interpersonal effectiveness skills teach effective strategies for asking for what one needs, saying no, and coping with interpersonal conflict.

• Emotional dysregulation
• Interpersonal relationships
• Impulse control
• Depression and anxiety issues
• Substance abuse or dependency
• Self-harming behaviors
• Suicidal ideations/urges/attempts
• Issues related to trauma, grief and/or loss
• Self-esteem issues
• Disordered eating
• High-risk behaviors that interfere with their everyday lives.

Adults: Our structured Adult DBT Skills Group meets for three hours, twice a week.

Each group begins with a mindfulness exercise, a review of the worksheets assigned during the week and an introduction of new material. The focus of treatment is on what is relevant, current and practical on a week-to-week basis. All four DBT skills modules are taught and coupled with creative therapy modalities to provide an extensive skills-building program that targets specific behaviors and teaches healthy skill sets to address problematic behaviors.

Adolescents: Our structured Adolescent DBT Skills Group meets for three hours, twice a week.

As part of our DBT Program, parents are invited to attend a multi-family parents’ group where they learn the DBT skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation. In addition, parents learn to understand and respond to specific adolescent behaviors, to encourage the use of skills at home, and to receive support from each other in a DBT framework.

To learn more about the DBT Skills Groups or to sign up for an assessment, please contact the Banner Appointment Line at (602) 254-4357.