Dialectical Behavior Therapy® (DBT®) is a skills-based, psychoeducational model designed to help clients learn and practice basic tools for managing compulsive, addictive, and self-harming behaviors; intrusive thoughts; intense or overwhelming feelings; chronic feelings of emptiness; ongoing relationship crises; and other painful experiences. Rooted in principles of mindfulness practice, existential philosophy, developmental psychology, and cognitive/behavioral therapy, DBT® skills training is particularly helpful to clients in the early stages of any kind of recovery process or those who find themselves stuck in destructive patterns that are hard to break, though its current applications far exceed that historical focus. This class introduces the theoretical framework of DBT® and the Four Basic Skills Modules that clients learn in DBT® Skills Training. These are: 1) Mindfulness; 2) Distress Tolerance; 3) Emotion Regulation; and 4) Interpersonal Effectiveness. It also reviews the Auxiliary Modules that include the General Skills and Middle Path or Dialectical Thinking Skills.

Ryan Kennedy, PsyD, LAC, LMFT, LPC, RN, DBTC, is the Executive and Training Director at Noeticus Counseling Center and Training Institute® in Denver, Colorado where there are multiple DBT® groups and DBT® is incorporated into their comprehensive, trauma-informed, client care approach. He is a certified DBT® provider and completed his initial DBT® training with Behavioral Tech, LLC, and has been teaching and working with the DBT® curriculum for 20 years. He has been a psychotherapist since 1993 and a counselor educator and clinical supervisor since 1996, serving as core faculty at Naropa University in the Graduate School of Psychology and as adjunct faculty at Regis University, University of Colorado Denver, Prescott College, and Front Range Community College. Dr. Kennedy’s clinical training is in the areas of trauma and dissociative disorders, chronic and persistent mental illness, psychiatric nursing and psychopharmacology, addictions and recovery, domestic/family violence, and living with life-threatening illnesses.