DBT Programs for Adults and Teens in Los Angeles, California
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
An evidence-based, skills-focused therapy for building emotional resilience and healthier relationships
What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?
Who Benefits from DBT?
DBT was originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan to support people navigating intense emotional dysregulation and high-risk behaviors like suicidality and self harm.
Today, DBT supports a wide range of emotional and relational challenges and patterns that haven’t responded to other forms of therapy. These include Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and shame cycles, mood disorders (anxiety, depression), relationship instability or sensitivity, eating disorders, addictive behaviors, and trauma-related difficulties.
Approach
In DBT the term dialectical refers to holding two truths at once and finding balance between them. This often means balancing acceptance and change. DBT offers a trauma-informed approach to learning to understand and accept your thoughts and emotions without judgment, while also developing new responses that better support your goals and relationships.
As a behavioral therapy, DBT focuses on noticing patterns in emotions, thoughts, or actions that cause distress, and helps you gently shape them into more effective responses. Rather than labeling behaviors as “good” or “bad,” DBT seeks to understand your behavior in the context of your history, while also helping you move toward choices that support your values and long-term wellbeing. DBT teaches practical skills that help you stay present, manage emotional intensity, communicate more clearly and respond to challenges without abandoning yourself or creating more suffering
DBT Programs Offered
Adult Comprehensive DBT Program (ages 18+)
We will meet for an initial session to discuss your goals for therapy and how DBT could help you. From there, we will move into pretreatment - these are four sessions that are meant to give you a lot of information about DBT and a feel for what it is like to work with me, so that you and I both feel confident committing to working together. Research shows DBT to be most effective when done for 12-24 months, though you and I will discuss what feels like the best fit for you. Most clients complete at least 6 months of the program (so that you complete the full skills curriculum).
Teen Comprehensive DBT Program (ages 13-17)
I meet with teens and their parents for an initial assessment to discuss treatment goals and answer any questions you may have about DBT. After that, your teen will do 4 sessions of pretreatment to learn more about DBT and about working with me before diving into the program, which includes parent participation in parent skills sessions. Most teens and their families do one full year of DBT (getting you through the skills curriculum two full times) before scaling back to just individual therapy.
What’s Included in a Comprehensive DBT Program?
Individual Therapy
Individual DBT therapy sessions are more structured than typical therapy. At the beginning of treatment, I will help you create a diary card to track daily emotions, thoughts, and actions. Based on your diary card, we set an agenda each session to address life threatening behaviors (suicidal and self-harm behaviors), behaviors interfering with your progress in therapy, and behaviors interfering with your quality of life. Sessions are highly interactive and collaborative. In the room, you are the expert in your own life, I am the expert in DBT, and we work together as equals to help you build a life that you experience as worth living.
DBT Skills Group
Skills groups meet weekly for 90 minutes. These sessions are organized like a didactic class - two group leaders guide the group though a mindfulness activity, homework review, skills lessons, and application activities. At the end of session, homework is assigned for the following week. It takes 6 months to complete the full DBT skills curriculum in this format. Groups cover mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills - see below for more info. (Note: In the teen program, parents must participate in skills training, often through separate parents skills training sessions)
Between Session Phone Coaching
The DBT model acknowledges that learning is context-dependent - it is one thing to learn a skill in the contained environment of a DBT skills group or discuss a skill in your individual session, and a very different thing to then use that same skill out in the wild. Between-session phone coaching offers you the opportunity to reach out to your therapist for support in using skills in your day to day context. (Note: In the teen program, parents also receive access to phone coaching)
Therapist Consultation Team
For a therapist to offer comprehensive DBT, they must be part of a DBT consultation team that meets weekly. This consultation meeting provides DBT therapists the opportunity to discuss cases, refine their skills, and ensure that the treatment you are being provided adheres to the key principles of DBT. If you have any questions about my consultation team, please feel free to ask and I will share their information!
What Skills Are Taught in DBT Skills Groups?
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Mindfulness
Learn how to notice what you’re feeling and thinking without getting swept away by it. These skills help you slow down, stay present, and respond with intention instead of reactivity.
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Distress Tolerance
Build the ability to survive emotional spikes without making things worse. You’ll learn concrete tools for getting through crisis moments and accepting painful realities when you can’t immediately change them.
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Emotion Regulation
Understand your emotions and change the patterns that keep you stuck. These skills help reduce vulnerability to intense mood swings and increase steadiness over time.
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Interpersonal Effectiveness
Ask for what you need, set boundaries, and navigate conflict without losing closeness or self-respect. You’ll practice real-world strategies for relationships that feel more balanced and secure.
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Walking the Middle Path
TEEN GROUPS ONLY
Learn how to hold two truths at once. These skills help teens and parents reduce power struggles, validate each other, and move out of rigid “all-or-nothing” patterns.
Frequently Asked Questions
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DBT blends emotional insight with concrete skills in a format that is more structured than your typical therapy session. With its structure comes flexibility - you are in charge of setting your treatment goals, and the treatment is tailored to support you. Overall, DBT focuses on both understanding your inner world and building tools you can use in real time.
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Comprehensive DBT is a ~year long program where the client is receiving individual therapy, groups skills sessions (covering mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness), and between-session phone coaching, while their therapist is receiving support via a DBT consultation team.
Any deviations from that format make it “DBT-informed therapy”, rather than comprehensive DBT. While the research on the effectiveness of DBT has been done on DBT treatment that adheres to the full, comprehensive model, many clients also benefit from certain components of DBT, whether it is standalone skills training in a group or one-on-one setting, or individual sessions infused with DBT skills practices tailored to each client’s needs.
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The research on outpatient DBT is typically done with clients in 12-18 months of treatment. That said, many DBT programs are structured around a 6- to 12-month format, with pacing depending on your goals and needs. Meaningful change takes time, and we move at a pace that supports growth and stability.
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Not always. Some people benefit from comprehensive DBT (individual therapy, skills group and coaching), while others do well with DBT-informed individual therapy. We will explore the right level of support together.
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No! DBT was originally developed for BPD, but it is now widely used for anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, emotional sensitivity, relationship struggles, and impulsive or self-protective behaviors that feel hard to shift.
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Many people do! You do not have to feel ready or be fully confident to begin. We take things step by step, at a pace that feels safe and grounding. Reach out for a free initial consultation, and I am happy to answer any questions and discuss what DBT options would be a good fit for you!