DBT in Orange County
Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Tools to help you slow down when emotions take over, respond more intentionally, and address patterns that create tension in your relationships.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based form of therapy developed by Marsha Linehan at the University of Washington. It focuses on building practical skills in four key areas called modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
DBT was developed for situations where emotions feel so intense that thinking alone may not be enough. When you're overwhelmed, it can feel like trying to reason your way out of a fire. DBT keeps the helpful cognitive tools from CBT, but adds something essential: tools and skills you can use in the moment, along with a structured way to learn and practice them over time.
The work is highly practical. Each skill is something you can understand, practice, and apply directly in your life, especially when things feel most difficult.
Four Modules.
DBT skills are organized into four modules. Each one targets a different problem. We can start where you want to see the most change.
Noticing what's happening inside you without reaction or judgment.
A foundational skill built through raising awareness of body and mind. Practicing mindfulness teaches you to notice what's happening within you: your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. It helps you differentiate between real or perceived threats. As this awareness grows, it becomes easier to stay present and make more intentional choices.
Practical tools to apply when emotions feel intense and hard to manage.
When emotions feel overwhelming, it's easy to feel like they'll never pass. DBT teaches practical, in-the-moment skills to help you get through life's hardest moments without making things worse, while building the confidence that you can handle difficult emotions when they arise.
Building daily habits that support greater emotional balance.
Rather than waiting until emotions reach a breaking point, emotion regulation focuses on caring for your emotional well-being every day. You'll learn habits that make you more resilient day-to-day, along with strategies for responding effectively when difficult emotions inevitably show up.
Asking for what you need while maintaining respect for yourself and others.
Learn to communicate with honesty, confidence, and respect by expressing your needs clearly, setting healthy boundaries, and strengthening relationships while maintaining your self-respect.
Two true things at once.
The dialectic at the center of DBT: you're doing the best you can, AND you can do better. Both true. The work is figuring out which side of that to lean on in any given moment.
Most stuck patterns come from collapsing the dialectic. If it's all "you're doing the best you can," nothing changes. If it's all "you can do better," there's no kindness left to do the work from. DBT keeps both alive.
Acceptance and change are not opposites. They are the two wings of the same bird. — After Marsha Linehan, DBT founder
DBT started with a focus on emotion regulation, but the skills it teaches have been shown to be helpful across a much wider range of difficulties including those listed below.
Trained in DBT, Janie thoughtfully integrates DBT skills into individual therapy whenever they best support your goals and needs.
DBT-informed practice.
Janie has training and practice in using DBT skills with clients. This means that when emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal communication patterns are what is keeping you stuck, she'll bring in the DBT skills most appropriate for you and apply them as part of the work.
Skills are learnable.
Start with a free 15-minute consultation. We'll talk through what you're working on and whether DBT skills are the right fit for it.
Are you a certified DBT therapist?
Janie is trained in DBT and uses DBT skills in her individual work, but she is not a certified DBT clinician and does not run a comprehensive DBT program. Full programs typically include weekly individual therapy, a separate skills group, phone coaching between sessions, and a therapist consultation team. If that level of structure is what you need, ask Janie in a consultation and she can point you toward programs that offer it.
How is DBT different from regular CBT?
Regular CBT focuses on changing thought patterns. DBT keeps the cognitive work but adds two things: acceptance (some pain and difficulty can't be reasoned away in the moment — you also need skills to ride it out) and concrete behavioral skills you actually learn and rehearse. The 'dialectical' part is the both/and stance: change what can change, accept what can't, and figure out which is which.
What does 'dialectical' mean?
It means holding two things that look contradictory and finding what's true in both. The core DBT dialectic: you're doing the best you can, AND you can do better. Both true at the same time. Most of the skills work from that frame — accept the moment as it is while also building toward something different.
Who does DBT help most?
DBT was originally developed for people experiencing severe emotion dysregulation, particularly when other approaches hadn't worked. The skills have since been shown effective for a wider range — anxiety, depression, chronic interpersonal conflict, impulsive behaviors, and patterns that intensify under stress. In a consultation Janie can give you her honest read on whether DBT skills fit what you're working on.
Is there homework?
Yes. DBT skills only work if you actually practice them outside session — that's where the change lives. You'll often leave with something specific to track or try, and we'll look at what happened the next week. It's not busywork; it's the work.