SZN. 3 Ep. 10/What is DBT?

Justin Irvin, LCPC, received a degree in Psychology and Sociology from Augustana College and a Masters in Community Counseling from Argosy University. Justin has been working in the mental health field for 18 years and providing individual and group therapy for adults and adolescents for over a decade.

Justin has experience employing CBT, DBT, and ACT therapy models in group homes, residential care facilities, hospital programs, and private practice. Over the course of his career, he has led over 7000 skills groups, and worked with thousands of clients and hundreds of families. He has also spent years developing Video Game Assisted Therapy Skills Groups and DBT-focused Dungeons and Dragons Group Therapy Modules to teach coping and interpersonal effectiveness from various angles. Justin now works in Private Practice with Ivy Lane Counseling in Naperville.

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What is DBT?

by: Justin Irvin, LCPC

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy put simply, is acknowledging that no matter how good of a sailor you are, there will always be storms. Sailing through the unpredictability of life, we can't control the weather, but we can always adjust our sails.

Accepting what we can't control, and changing the way we respond to things around us, are at the core of Dialectical thinking, and allow us to respond more mindfully and effectively to the inevitable stressors we encounter.

DBT gives us a long list of strategies to both assess what we need to do, and specific techniques to do it. This frame centers 4 modules, with a collection of skills for each one that can be learned and practiced.

The four modules each focus on different pieces of mental wellness. Distress Tolerance for getting through crisis, Emotion Regulation for building resillience, Mindfulness for staying present and detecting early warning signs, and Interpersonal effectiveness for better relationships with others.

szn. 3

Ep. 10/

What is DBT?