Welcome  to  the  DBT  Advanced Group!

*PLEASE NOTE* This group is only avilaible for members who have graduated from our DBT program. If you are a graduate and would like to apply, hit the button below!
We created this page to answer a few questions for you about our current DBT Advanced Group and how it works. If ever you have a question, feel free to call our main number for more information. We hope you find this group helpful to building lives worth living and maintaining the skills!

What is a DBT Advanced Group
The DBT Advanced Skills group is a follow-up to the original DBT Skills group. It follows the same structure and guidelines, but with a stronger focus on skills related to directly improving one’s life, as opposed to preventing relapses or making things worse.  If the original skills group primarily helped to put out fires to the burning house, the Advanced Skills Group is meant to help with renovating. 

While there is little research on what graduate DBT groups are most effective post-DBT, we do know every graduate who has participated in our groups have found them both useful and on average see reductions on certain measures related to emotion regulation, happiness, self-compassion, and depression (DERS, SHS, SCS, PHQ-9, etc.). In the spirit of the Effectiveness skill, we will continue to work hard at doing what works for our graduate community and make adjustments as needed.

Our Goal
I don't need to tell you how difficult life can be or how easy it is to find yourself drifting away from skills use. Life is really hard! And doing it without support is nearly impossible. The primary function of this support group is to:
  1. Assist you towards your Life Worth Living goals,
  2. Keep you committed to the skills, and
  3. Establish a community of like-minded people to help ensure balance in your life and keep you on track long term.

Member Expectations
In the Advanced group, the expectations are a bit higher than in the DBT skills groups. For example, there is no co-lead for this group and therefore the group will have to be able to support each other even more so. We also assume a level of skillfulness that you will be able to work with each other outside of skills group and be able to follow group guidelines (we will review in group). 

To help with coming back to group, here are a few bullet points to keep in mind:
  • Listen to and validate members who are sharing.
  • Participate, remembering that every member has something to say, i.e., staying silent throughout an entire meeting is not participating.
  • ​Practice the skills between groups!!!

Examples of skills reviewed in Group
The Advanced skills group runs very similar to the DBT skills groups. We begin with a mindfulness exercise, review the skills practiced during the week, take a short break, learn/review a skill, assign skills to practice, and wind down. Since there is no universal or researched Advanced group curriculum, we tailor the topics/skills based on the needs of the community. Below are some of the skills/topics we have delved in to:
  • Ways to sustain a Life Worth Living
  • Behavioral strategies to maintain skills use long term
  • Understanding shame and shame resilience
  • Skills for increasing Self-Compassion
  • Understanding and managing Loneliness
  • Radical Acceptance
  • Review of Opposite Action
  • A deeper dive into the Negotiate skill
  • Overview of the DBT skills
  • Validation strategies
  • Skills derived from Positive Psychology
  • Skills to manage depression
  • How to maintain a Mindfulness practice
  • etc.
This is not an exhaustive list, but we hope it gives you an idea of what you can expect to go over in the Advanced Skills group

Getting Started
If it's your first time in group since graduating, welcome back! Before you begin, here are a few housekeeping tasks to do beforehand.
  • Update your information in our system!! This can be done through your Patient Portal Account. If you can't remember your user name, please reach out and ask. Make especially sure your email, mailing address, and insurance information is up to date. 
  • Find your DBT skills book and bring it!
  • Mentally prepare yourself to begin this group with an open mind,  willingness to participate, and commitment to see it through.
  • Come to group on time (or a few minutes early) to settle in.

If  ever  you  have  any  questions,  feel  free  to  reach  out !