Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidenced based treatment that helps people regain control of their emotions, behaviors and the direction of their lives. It teaches skills to provide relief from distressing emotions and difficult thoughts. It also works to change or eliminate problematic habits and behaviors.

1. Skills class. This is central to the DBT program. Clients attend three days a week for three hours at a time.

• We teach Emotion Regulation skills to help change emotions or decrease their intensity. We help our clients build resilience to difficult emotions. We also teach them how to have more of the emotions they want, and how to make those emotions last longer. Ultimately, we teach clients the ability to sit with a big difficult emotion for long enough to discover that it won’t overwhelm them.
• We teach Distress Tolerance skills to help people handle a crisis, without resorting the actions and behaviors that they’re trying to get away from. This module also includes Radical Acceptance skills: skills for dealing with big changes or loss, or events that you don’t like but can’t change.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness teaches communication skills. Many of our clients have difficulty asking for what they want or saying no to other people. Our clients don’t want to seem like a burden or to put anyone out, so they stay silent and the issues don’t get resolved. Not only do we teach people the language of what to say to others, we teach them the skills to have the conversation in such a way that they feel good about themselves and the relationship they have with the other person afterwards.
• Mindfulness is the glue that holds everything together. We teach Mindfulness skills to help people gain control over their own mind. Mindfulness is about being fully present in the moment, noticing everything inside yourself and outside of yourself. Mindfulness also teaches clients how to recognize the part of themselves that DBT calls Wise Mind, in order to make the best decisions, even during a crisis. Mindfulness is about being non-judgmental, doing what works and beginning to fully participate in your own life, rather than watching from the sidelines.

2. Individual therapy. This is a weekly one on one therapy session where you work with your individual therapist to move closer towards your specific personal goals. For some people this may be decreasing depression and increasing motivation. For others it could be repairing broken relationships, handling anxiety differently or learning to eliminate negative critical self talk. In the first meeting with your individual therapist you will work together to draw up an individual treatment plan that will guide the work you do as you progress through the treatment.

3. Skills Coaching. Coaching for DBT skills is available 24 hours a day to anyone enrolled in our DBT program. Through texting or phone, clients have access to their therapist day and night if they’re in need of skills in the moment or extra support during a crisis. This feature of DBT allows many people to survive a difficult moment without resorting to a behavior or action they are in the program to decrease or eliminate.

DBT is different from other therapies because it’s more structured and it requires a commitment from clients to follow through with agreed tasks and assignments. DBT therapists also understand how difficult and challenging it can be to follow through with what others might see as simple tasks. We’re never going to tell our clients that they’re not trying hard enough. We’re going to recognize it as a real difficulty, and then we’ll collaborate to come up with a solution to make it work next time. Our therapists work in partnership with our clients to keep them on track towards their goals. Clients also keep records of their emotions, thoughts and actions, and they are asked to practice the skills they learn and to complete short homework assignments.

This is common. Even people who are used to asking for assistance can feel embarrassed at having to do so.
Part of the skill of a trained DBT therapist is to show the client that we actually understand the problem, and that it makes sense to us.
We will also help you explore and identify your own strengths and figure out how best to use them to reduce the influence of the problems you are facing.

Support from friends and family is important. However a mental health professional can help you approach your situation in a new way. We can teach you new skills, help you gain different perspectives, listen to you without judgment or expectations, and help you listen to your inner wisdom. Furthermore, therapy is completely confidential.

Medication can be very effective but it alone cannot solve all issues. Sometimes medication is needed in conjunction with counseling. At Recovery DBT we have two board certified psychiatrists and a nurse practitioner that can work closely with you to prescribe and monitor the effects of your medication (if desired). Research into effective treatment for depression (for example) shows that medication and therapy combined is more effective than either one on its own.

Because each person has different issues and goals for therapy there will be slightly different approaches in the sessions.The common theme within DBT however is to identify factors leading to certain behaviors, and work together to identify skills to use the next time the situation arises.

Our program lasts 14 weeks. While it is not possible to say that we will have 100% success within that time frame as everyone’s circumstances are unique, we frequently see marked changes and improvements once we move into the second phase of treatment around week eight.

I am so glad you are dedicated to getting the most out of your sessions. Your active participation and dedication will be crucial to your success.

We’re here to help you navigate the oftentime complex process of dealing with insurance providers.

The first step is to reach out to us so we can get as much detail as possible to be able to review your options. The good news is that we bill most private insurance policies. Each policy varies in cost and we will determine your payment options by verifying your insurance benefits.

We highly recommend you submit the front and back of your insurance card in advance, plus the potential client’s name, date of birth and zip code to our secure text line at (678) 336-6875.

Our admission team will then give you a call once benefits are verified.

In addition to insurance coverage, we also offer a variety of sliding scale options as it relates to making flexible payment plans.

If you have high deductible plans, or if we do not accept your insurance policy, we will customize a payment plan that allows you to pay your treatment over the course of two years +, interest free for those that qualify.

Rest assured, we’re here to support you through the logistics of receiving treatment and we’re committed to making the process as smooth as possible.

Some clients return to their previous therapist, while others start weekly therapy with a provider we connect them to.

We always consider the best and most appropriate path for our DBT graduates and assist with linking the client to the right person or treatment center.

Because we always need to have therapists available to meet with all clients that are in the program, we are not able to offer continued therapy with our therapists once a person completes our program.