DBT gives you real, practical skills to manage overwhelming emotions, survive crises, and build relationships that last. A comprehensive virtual program — individual therapy, skills group, and phone coaching — available across all of New York.
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Understanding DBT
Dialectical Behavior Therapy was developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan in the 1980s, originally to treat individuals with borderline personality disorder who experienced intense, difficult-to-regulate emotions. Since then, its reach has expanded dramatically — DBT is now recognized as one of the most effective therapies available for anyone who struggles with emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, relationship instability, or difficulty tolerating distress.
The "dialectical" in DBT refers to its core philosophy: that two seemingly opposite ideas — acceptance and change — can both be true at the same time. DBT helps you fully accept who you are and where you are right now, while simultaneously working to change thoughts, behaviors, and patterns that are making your life harder. This balance is what makes it both compassionate and deeply practical.
Unlike traditional talk therapy alone, DBT gives you a structured set of concrete, learnable skills. These skills become tools you can use in real life — in moments of crisis, in difficult relationships, in times of overwhelming emotion — not just something you process in a weekly session.
Who DBT Helps
DBT was designed for emotional intensity. If any of these feel familiar, DBT may be for you:
The DBT Framework
DBT is organized around four evidence-based skill modules. Together they address the full spectrum of emotional and relational challenges that bring people to therapy.
The foundation of all DBT skills. Mindfulness teaches you to observe and describe your thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment — staying in the present moment rather than being pulled into the past or future. You learn to notice what's happening inside you without being controlled by it. Core practices include wise mind (accessing your inner wisdom), observing, describing, and participating fully in your current experience. Mindfulness is woven through every other DBT skill.
Life inevitably brings situations you cannot immediately change. Distress Tolerance skills help you survive crisis moments without making things worse. You learn to get through painful experiences without turning to self-destructive behaviors — by radically accepting what you cannot control, distracting yourself skillfully, self-soothing, and improving the moment. Specific skills include TIPP (temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, paired muscle relaxation), ACCEPTS, and radical acceptance — one of the most transformative concepts in DBT.
Emotion Regulation skills help you understand your emotions, reduce their intensity, and change emotional responses that aren't serving you. You learn how emotions work, what triggers them, and how to intervene at different points in the emotional cycle. Skills include identifying and labeling emotions, checking the facts, opposite action (acting counter to an emotion that isn't warranted), building positive experiences, and mastery activities that build resilience over time. These skills put you back in the driver's seat of your emotional life.
Relationships are often the most challenging arena for people who struggle with emotional intensity. Interpersonal Effectiveness skills help you ask for what you need, say no, maintain self-respect, and preserve relationships — all at the same time. Key skills include DEAR MAN (Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce, Mindful, Appear confident, Negotiate) for getting what you want, GIVE for maintaining relationships, and FAST for keeping your self-respect. These are practical, learnable tools that transform how you navigate every important relationship in your life.
The Complete DBT Program
Standard DBT is not just individual therapy. A complete program includes three interconnected components — all offered virtually at Kind Mind Psychology.
Weekly one-on-one sessions with your DBT therapist. Together you apply DBT skills to the specific challenges in your life, track progress using diary cards, address behaviors that interfere with your quality of life, and strengthen your motivation to change. Individual therapy is the anchor of your DBT treatment.
A structured weekly group where you learn and practice the four DBT skill modules alongside others. Led by a DBT therapist, the group covers mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness in a classroom-style format. Kind Mind's skills group is also open to clients working with outside therapists.
Between-session support when you need it most. Phone coaching gives you real-time access to your therapist when you're facing a crisis or struggling to apply DBT skills in the moment. This component is what makes DBT feel truly integrated into daily life — not something that only happens in a 50-minute session.
Why It Matters
Many providers use DBT techniques without delivering the full protocol. This distinction matters significantly for outcomes. At Kind Mind, we offer the complete program.
Who DBT Helps
DBT was built for emotional intensity. While it began as a treatment for BPD, its evidence base now spans a wide range of conditions.
Why Kind Mind Psychology
Dr. Monica Johnson is a nationally recognized psychologist and the founder of Kind Mind Psychology. She is a DBT-trained clinician who trains and supervises all DBT practitioners at the practice — ensuring every client receives the same caliber of care. Her published work includes a book specifically addressing how to adapt evidence-based therapy approaches, including DBT, for clients experiencing racial trauma and race-based stress — a dimension most DBT programs do not address.
📖 Published Work on DBT & Racial Trauma
Dr. Johnson co-authored work on adapting DBT and evidence-based therapy for race-based stress and cultural trauma — bringing a dimension to DBT at Kind Mind that most practices cannot offer.Individual therapy, skills group, and phone coaching — the full DBT protocol, not just techniques borrowed from it.
You don't have to be an individual therapy client to join our DBT skills group. It's open to anyone working with a therapist outside Kind Mind.
Our DBT program integrates the full context of your identity — race, culture, gender, sexuality — as clinically relevant, not incidental, to your treatment.
Every component of our DBT program — individual sessions, skills group, and phone coaching — is delivered via secure telehealth statewide.
We accept multiple insurance plans and offer reduced-rate options so financial barriers don't prevent you from getting the help you need.
Common Questions
DBT gives you real, learnable skills for emotional intensity, difficult relationships, and the hard moments of life. Comprehensive virtual program across all of New York.
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