Treatment at Chicago DBT Institute

Individual Therapy

Patients meet with a Doctoral-level psychologist with advanced training in DBT at least once a week for a 60-minute individual therapy session.

Phone Coaching

Patients have 24/7 access to the DBT therapist on call for phone coaching to help support the generalization of skills to real life. Phone coaching can be a vital component of treatment if you are about to engage in problematic behaviors.

Skills Group

Patients participate in weekly DBT skills groups that emphasize the following skills: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation.

Consultation Team

All staff members at Chicago DBT are required to participate on the DBT Consultation Team. This ensures that all therapists have the support they need to provide outstanding treatment. The whole Team is working on your case!

“The only way out is through.”— Robert Frost

Dialectical Behavior Therapy organizes treatment into four stages to first address issues that are life-threatening or interfere with effective treatment before learning new coping behaviors.

Stage 1: Focus on gaining control over behaviors. Learn to reduce or stop life-threatening actions, behaviors that disrupt treatment, and habits that lower quality of life. Build skills for better relationships and emotional regulation. Co-occurring issues like depression, anxiety, or eating disorders are also addressed.

Stage 2: Focus on expressing emotions fully and reducing “suffering in silence.” Individual sessions target trauma and PTSD symptoms, helping you experience emotions without shutting down.

Stage 3: Focus on solving everyday life problems, like relationship or career challenges. Develop strategies to handle these issues and lead a more functional life.