Curious About Dialectical Behavior Therapy? Here’s What You Need to Know

Written By Scott Meyer, MA, LPC and Eden Himidian, LCSW, PMH-C, RYT In this article we’ll pull back the curtain on Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT. We’ll discuss what DBT is, why it exists, and what it might look like if you ever decide to give it a try. Let’s jump in. What does DBT…

Trauma and Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Practical Tools to Ease Distress

If you’re reading this, I’m going to take a wild guess: you’re curious about how trauma is treated through the lens of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Maybe you’re a clinician wanting to learn more about applying DBT to trauma, or perhaps you’re someone who has experienced trauma and is searching for ways to cope, heal,…

Therapy Insights: Learning to Control What We Can Control

You may have heard the old phrase, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” This quote resonated with me as I with thinking about this post, mostly for its incompleteness, especially in the context of my work. Being a therapist, one thing I witness day in and day out is the inevitability of pain. If…

Honoring the Complexities of Perinatal Loss: A Guide for Clinicians

Loss is one of the most painful and often isolating experiences within the perinatal community. Perinatal loss, which encompasses miscarriage, stillbirth and death of an infant in the first month of life, is a deeply personal and often unspoken grief. The silence surrounding this loss can lead grieving individuals to suffer alone, without the support…

Making the Most of “Me Time” During the Holiday Season

Source: Photo by Audrey Fretz on Unsplash Despite the pervasive message that the media and society in general send about being with family and friends during the holidays, we recognize that this isn’t the case for many people. Please know that you are NOT alone in that, whether it be due to logistical or personal…

How to Establish and Maintain Boundaries with Family and Friends During the Holidays

Source: Photo by Dima Pechurin on Unsplash Setting and maintaining boundaries with family and friends starts with asking yourself what you want your boundaries to look like. It can be difficult to differentiate between what you truly want and need versus what you feel you should do. This is further muddied by the expectations that…

Preparing for Winter 2020-2021: An Investment in Your Future Self

With winter on the horizon and the pandemic still raging, the prospect of many more months inside with constricted holiday gatherings, limited opportunities to spend time outdoors, and narrowed possibilities for entertainment outside of the home, may incite feelings of distress, frustration, and apathy. While this winter may look different from winters past, the experience…

Dialectical Behavior Therapy in the Treatment of Trauma

Note: This article is primarily intended to be a resource for mental health professionals who are treating individuals impacted by a history of trauma and who are seeking additional evidence-based tools to support their work. If you are not a mental health professional, you may also find this article helpful in learning more about the…

Assertiveness Training: Using DEAR-MAN Tool to Get More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t

What makes communication important? Communication refers to the manner in which we express ourselves with one another. Communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, is used to pass information to others and, conversely, to understand what is shared with us (Gudykunst, 2004). While the premise of exchanging information seems simple, communication can feel fraught when setting a…

Applying DBT to the Treatment of Trauma: Trauma Explained

Note: This article is primarily intended to be a resource for mental health professionals who are treating individuals impacted by a history of trauma and who are seeking additional evidence-based tools to support their work. If you are not a mental health professional, you may also find this article helpful in learning more about the…