DBT Program

Our Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) program treats adolescents (age 12+), young adults (18-25 years old) and adults.

Our comprehensive DBT program consists of the following components:

Individual Therapy

Individual sessions are 45-50 minutes. You will work closely with your therapist to learn how to regulate emotions and replace problematic behavior with newly learned coping skills. You will receive an easy to use diary card to keep track of emotions and behaviors that is designed specifically for you. Typically, sessions are weekly, but more frequent sessions can be arranged if intensive therapy is needed. Family members can be included in sessions in order to improve communication in relationships and create environments that reinforce skillful behaviors.

Skills Training Groups

Skills training groups meet weekly for 90 minutes and are conducted in a structured format. In group, clients practice mindfulness and also learn a new skill that they are asked to practice over the course of the week. Skills practice is reviewed in each subsequent session. For your convenience, groups are offered on various days and times.

We teach five skills training modules:

• Mindfulness skills
• Emotion regulation skills
• Distress tolerance skills
• Interpersonal effectiveness skills
• Middle path skills

LI DBT offers age-specific skills groups, as well as groups with a specialized clinical focus:

• Adult skills groups
• Multi-family skills groups for adolescents and one or both parents
• Young adult skills group for clients between the ages of 18-25
• Parent/family skills group

We offer a summer intensive DBT program for high school graduates and college students. Clients meet weekly with a therapist and also attend a two hour skills training group that teaches the most essential DBT skills.

Phone Coaching

Clients are encouraged to contact their therapist between sessions for assistance in applying skills instead of engaging in self-destructive or ineffective behaviors.

DBT Team Consultation

In adherence to the DBT model, our New York based Long Island DBT therapists meet weekly as a team to provide consultation and support to each other in treating their clients.

Family Education and Support Program for DBT

We offer an education session for parents and family members of all clients who join our program, and for family members of individuals who are not currently in treatment. After the initial session, many family members join a weekly group for guidance, support and to learn DBT skills. The group helps the families understand the biosocial origins and development of their loved one’s condition and how they might resort to self-destructive behavior as a form of emotion regulation. This can also be done in individual sessions.

Family members also learn and practice the following skills:

• Mindfulness, validation and, walking the middle path
• Balancing the tension between validation (acceptance) and problem solving (change) strategies
• Regulating their own fear and anger so that they can communicate effectively and consistently with their loved one without getting distracted by self-destructive behavior and threats of self-harm

CBT Program

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence based treatment for mood and anxiety disorders. CBT can also be helpful in learning new and effective ways of managing life stressors that impact functioning, such as family conflict, life transitions, losses, etc. We incorporate mindfulness skills to enhance the existing benefits of CBT. Mindfulness leads to increased awareness, which can help you in changing ineffective thought patterns and behaviors. Mindfulness can also open up new solutions to problems. Our skilled therapists can assist you in implementing the strategies you learn to improve your quality of life.

Trauma Survivors Program

Our clinicians are skilled in helping individuals who have experienced various forms of interpersonal trauma, including but not limited to:

• Childhood abuse and neglect
• Sexual trauma
• Domestic violence
• Unresolved grief due to traumatic loss
• Pervasively invalidating environments
• Peer victimization/bullying

LI DBT uses evidence-based treatments to help survivors reduce the negative impact of traumatic experiences on their functioning and life. Due to the complex way that trauma affects the nervous system and brain, we use a mind-body approach to comprehensively treat trauma related symptoms:

Mind: We use cognitive behavioral therapy, including prolonged exposure (PE), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), to process the trauma, find a way to make sense of what happened, and challenge negative beliefs commonly developed after trauma. Reducing anxiety and increasing skillfulness when confronted with trauma related triggers are important treatment goals.

Body: We use mindfulness, breath work and yoga (learn more) to help clients manage the intolerable physical sensations associated with trauma and learn to befriend their bodies so that they can restore a sense of safety and wellness. Mindfulness skills can help individuals ground themselves in the present moment and regain control and mastery over their lives.

Personalized Assessments

Trauma survivors can often benefit from comprehensive DBT or some type of DBT-informed treatment, such as skills training groups. LI DBT offers a wide range of services to meet your needs. Each client receives a personalized assessment to determine a treatment plan, which may include:

• Individual therapy
• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Couples therapy

For clients who are already using effective coping skills, we also offer a trauma survivors group for adults that focuses on resolving trauma with an emphasis on mind body integration and making peace with their experience.

Summer Intensive DBT Skills Group

This group focuses on teaching high school graduates and college-aged individuals the most essential skills in Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness in managing life’s challenges more adaptively.

Call our intake line at 516-627-6201 for more information or to sign up.