Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Coach

DBT is a modified type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.

Dialectical thinking involves merging opposing ideas. Rather than adhering to an either/or mindset, individuals are encouraged to adopt a both/and perspective. The primary objective is to achieve equilibrium by acknowledging and accepting oneself, including challenges, while also recognizing and working towards positive change. This program guides freeing the mind from fixed perspectives, decreasing emotional intensity, and accepting our present circumstances while striving for personal development. This program takes advantage of the research that shows DBT skills training is rapidly emerging as a stand-alone treatment. Studies suggest that skills training alone is a promising intervention for a wide array of populations. In DBT, mental health conditions are addressed as disorders of emotion dysregulation. DBT focuses on emotions and how they drive ineffective behavior patterns. Therefore, the skills are aimed at teaching individuals how to recognize, understand, label, and regulate their emotions. The overall goal of DBT is to help individuals change behavioral, emotional, thinking, and interpersonal patterns associated with problems in living.

A Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skill Coach (DBT-SC) is an expert who is grounded in the practice of DBT skills and has been trained to deliver DBT Skills in supporting others to learn and incorporate DBT skills to improve their lives.

DBT Skills are for everyone. These skills can help us live mindfully, relate effectively, and cope skillfully by helping to:

• Improve focus and attention in the present moment
• Learn how to gain control of emotions
• Increase tolerance for stress and learn to manage it
• Understand how to build and maintain positive relationships
• Improve family conflict
• Increase self-satisfaction and happiness

As a DBT Skills Coach your target population is everyone, everywhere.

As a Certified DBT Skills Coach, you are:

• Trained to use DBT skills in your work with individuals and groups
• Provided with the DBT Skills Coaching Guides
• Provided with individual and group coaching structure guides
• Featured as a coach on the Peer Support Coalition of Florida’s (PSCFL) website
• Added to the DBT Skills Coach Community
• Invited to Community of Practice Sessions to deepen practice skills
• Given access to continued support for practice development from the PSCFL DBT Skills Coach Training Team

DBT Skills Coach certification is open to anyone who meets the following:

• Attest to 2 years offering direct support services in the role of peer specialist, behavioral health technician, community health worker or equivalent
• Desire to learn, practice, and model DBT skills
• Possess basic coaching skills whether as a peer support worker, Case Manager, coach, etc.
• Have basic digital literacy skills that enable participation in online sessions, video and audio
• Be prepared to actively contribute to the learning environment
• Commit to attend the entire duration of the program
• Participate from a distraction free learning environment that enables them to be fully present and engaged

This course is 100% virtual. No travel is required. You will need reliable internet, a webcam and basic computer skills.

The course is comprised of learning and practicing the skills in the 4 DBT modules of Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness.

Individual Course Descriptions

DBT Skills for Distress Tolerance Module-
6 weekly sessions at 2 hours each that are offered at least once a year.
Distress Tolerance is a person’s ability handle stress. When we have many stressors occurring at the same time, these skills help to be able to put something aside for the moment to be able to address what is most important. Distress Tolerance includes perceiving one’s environment without demanding it to be different. This course will cover the goals of distress tolerance, how our body chemistry changes when under stress, and skills that help us Improve the Moment, Reality Acceptance, and Willingness. Modules can be taken in any order, and each has its own participant guide.

DBT Skills for Emotion Regulation Module-
6 weekly sessions at 2 hours each that are offered at least once a year.
Emotion regulation is the ability to control or influence which emotions you have, when you have them, and how you experience, and express them. This course goes over the functions and myths about emotions, the goals of emotion regulation and goes through the skills to work at changing emotional responses and understand what our emotions are. Modules can be taken in any order, and each has its own participant guide.

DBT Skills for Interpersonal Effectiveness Module-
6 weekly sessions at 2 hours each that are offered at least once a year.
Interpersonal Effectiveness is meeting your wants and needs while balancing acceptance and change within your relationships. We want to be effective at achieving our goals without sacrificing harmony in our relationships or damaging our own self-respect. This course will cover the goals and priorities of Interpersonal Skills and goes through effectiveness for objectives, relationships, and self-respect. This course helps the learner to consider all aspects and learn to walk a middle path. Modules can be taken in any order, and each has its own participant guide.

DBT Skills for Mindfulness Module –
6 weekly sessions at 2 hours each that are offered at least once a year.
Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your awareness on the present moment without judgment. This course creates the foundation for why mindfulness is important for our wellbeing and goes through many different types of mindfulness practice skills. This course will cover the science of mindfulness, 3 States of Mind, Taking Hold of Your Mind- the What and How Skills and will provide many opportunities for practice. Modules can be taken in any order, and each has its own participant guide.

Facilitator Development Training-
2-part session, 6 hours- offered at least once quarterly.
This training is a skill-building education program designed to teach the science behind facilitating groups, including training, support groups, and meetings. This training is for both seasoned and new facilitators who will benefit from critical assessments of their skill levels as facilitators. The assessment results will then be used by the participant to create a plan for continuous improvement of facilitation skills. The curriculum will build an understanding of fidelity processes and requirements. Participants will learn tips, skills, and best practices for presenting and facilitating with opportunity within the training to practice the skills.

DBT Skills Coach Training-
2-part session, 6 hours- offered at least once quarterly
Pre-requisites- DBT Skills modules, Facilitator Development Training
This training teaches the structure and delivery of facilitating a DBT Skills Group according to evidence-based methods and an introduction to Dr. Marsha Linehan’s manual, workbook and videos. Additionally, it will help determine the participant’s readiness by focusing on question relation to the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale with the knowledge of the basic tenets of DBT learning. Part 1 will cover objectives, review of thinking patterns and biosocial theory, DBT Skills Group- specific group dynamics and protocols, basics of setting up the group, data collection, group and agenda format, delineation of responsibilities for the leader and co-leader, readiness and baseline working knowledge and requisite personal practice for the facilitator, skills and tips for success specific to DBT Skills Groups. Part 2 will allow opportunity for the practitioners to practice group facilitation using the DBT Skills Group manual and model. The practitioner will be evaluated on a variety of skills to determine readiness to lead DBT Skills Groups. The practitioner will develop a training growth and development plan for improving skills. Those who meet the requirements will be certified to coach and mentor individuals as well as lead Non-clinical DBT Skills Groups within their organization or independently. Successful completion gives the newly trained coach/facilitator permission to print and use the module participant guides with those being coached and mentored both individually and in groups.

CEUs are offered for each module.  If you only want to increase your knowledge, improve your well-being, and earn CEUs you are welcomed to take any module independently.

Please Note: You can only take the DBT Skill Coach Training module if you meet the requirements for certification.

For current cost, please go to the Training Calendar.

For questions, email info@peersupportfl. org

Absolutely. An organization can request a special cohort to sponsor multiple staff members in becoming Certified DBT Skill Coaches.

Send an email to [email protected].