What is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, is an evidence-based treatment that helps individuals establish transformative life skills. DBT offers a structured way to address challenges that have not responded to traditional therapy through participation in both a skills group and individual therapy. The DBT Skills Group teaches mastery of four essential life skills: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. These skills will help you achieve goals that are unique to you, so that you can maintain relationships and create personal growth, resiliency, and stability in your life.

Who benefits from DBT?

DBT was initially developed to treat individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder who exhibited suicidality or self-harm. It has since evolved and is effective for anyone experiencing chronic emotion dysregulation – which can look like over- or under-regulation of emotions (not feeling anything or over-feeling leading to outbursts and negative behaviors). It has also been proven effective for chronic depression, mood swings, sexual abuse survivors, and those wanting to enhance their sobriety efforts.

What is Included with the DBT program?

DBT is a comprehensive program of both group and individual therapy. Our DBT program is a specialized outpatient therapy approach that requires a one-year commitment for most clients. Individual sessions and skills group each take place once a week and assign coordinated homework assignments to create and strengthen skills. Participation in the comprehensive program includes access to coaching phone calls so that guidance can be given about how to maintain skills when or before a situation escalates.

How do I enroll in the DBT Program?

1. Read through the DBT Brochure to ensure you understand the program’s commitments and that the group times will work with your schedule.
2. DBT Referral Form If you currently work with a therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional, have that person fill out the box in the center of the form. If you do not currently work with a mental health professional, you may fill out the box yourself.
3. If you’d like us to be able to speak to someone other than the client on the client’s behalf (such as a parent, therapist, etc.) please also Fill out a release form. for each person or entity to whom you’d like us to release information. This helpful guide shows how to fill the release form out properly.
4. Send the forms to the attention of the Program Administrator via fax or mail.
   • Please do not email the form
   • FAX #: (610) 917-2360
   • Mailing address:
   • Penn Psychiatric Center
   • 601 Gay Street
   • Phoenixville, PA 19460
5. Once your referral is received and processed, the DBT team will review your referral during their weekly meeting.
6. The Program Administrator will contact you after the meeting.
   1. If there is an immediate opening in the group, we will schedule an initial meeting with a DBT therapist to determine if the DBT program is the right fit for you.
   2. If there is not an opening, you will be placed on the waitlist. Wait times can vary from a few weeks to a few months depending on therapist availability.
7. If both you and the DBT therapist determine that the program is right for you, most clients will have a few weeks working solely with the DBT therapist in individual therapy before starting the DBT Skills Group.

FAQ's

When do the groups meet?

Adults (ages 21 and up): Thursdays 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm.

Adolescents (ages 14 through 20): Thursdays 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm.

All groups are held at our Phoenixville office and are hybrid, meaning that clients can choose to come in person or join via Zoom.

How long is the wait to get into the program?

Once we receive the referral, the wait to get into the program is typically between 6 weeks and 3 months. However, there is no way to accurately predict the length of anyone’s wait.

Do I have to work with a therapist at your agency?

It depends. We offer three formats for DBT at our agency, but a client must meet criteria for the format they are placed in.

Comprehensive: This is the “classic” DBT model. Clients attend the DBT skills group each week as well as weekly individual therapy with trained DBT therapists here at our agency, following a structured format using a diary card that is filled out daily and reviewed in session. The DBT therapists offers coaching contact (texts/calls from client) within limits.

Group-only:To qualify for DBT skills group only, clients must be working with their own therapists at least every other week, have no current self-harm behaviors and no current suicidality. Group-only clients can schedule monthly meetings with the DBT skills group leader to identify how to either talk with their own therapists about DBT skills or how to utilize the skills in their daily lives. There are no coaching calls with this format.

Graduate:This program is available to any graduate of a DBT program who needs a “refresher” or to continue developing the skills in a particularly difficult area of their life. It is an hour in length and emphasizes mindfulness and skill processing and refining rather than skill acquisition. All participants must have a knowledge of the language and skills of DBT.

What do I learn in the DBT Skills group?

There are four modules in DBT: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. Each module is taught for six weeks.

Are there men in the group?

There may be. DBT at Penn Psychiatric Center is designed to be mixed-gender. Generally, about 90% of the clients are female, so you may encounter a female-only group, but this may change at any time as we have a continually rotating group population. At the start of each module, members who complete the program will graduate, and new members will start.

How long should I expect to be in the DBT program?

Most clients will be in the program for about one year. Some group-only clients are able to graduate in six months. The DBT team will determine when a client is ready to graduate based upon the client’s progress in use of the DBT skills.

Do I have to attend skills group and therapy every week?

Yes. Weekly attendance is part of the contract. Of course, we understand that you may be sick or out of town from time to time. However, the understanding is that you will come every week that you are physically able to, whether you feel like it or not.

What if I have substance abuse problems?

For Adults:If a client has a diagnosis of addiction to a substance, that client must be in concurrent drug and alcohol treatment or engaged in a 12-step program. We require a three-month waiting period while the client is building skills and commitment through professional drug/alcohol treatment or self-help groups (AA, NA). At the three-month mark of actively moving toward not using the addiction as a coping skill, they may be evaluated for eligibility for the DBT program. If an addiction isn’t challenged ahead of time, it is an obstacle to the full use of the skills. Challenging the addiction first opens a space for the skills to then develop.

For Adolescents:We don’t require abstinence for adolescent skills group, but the DBT therapist will evaluate you at the intake for whether DBT or substance abuse treatment is appropriate.

Do you accept my insurance?

Medicare: We have limited spots in our groups for clients with Medicare. Please contact the Program Administrator at the following number to find out if we are currently accepting referrals for clients with Medicare: (484) 972-0346.

Public Insurance only:Clients who have Community Care Behavioral Health or Magellan Montgomery County as their mental health payor can participate in both skills group and individual therapy without a copay.

Private Insurance Only:Clients with private insurances will have their usual copay for individual therapy. There will be a $65 out-of-pocket fee for each skills group.

Private primary with public secondary:Clients with private insurances with a public secondary will have their usual copay for individual therapy. There will be a $65 out-of-pocket fee for each skills group..

Inclusion Criteria

• Minimum age is 14 years old.
• Voluntary participant (even if court mandated, willingly agrees) - does conform to expectations, including group attendance and completing weekly diary card.
• IQ above 80 strongly recommended. Individuals will be given consideration, but must show ability to learn and retain material.
• Any of the following:
• BPD or BPD traits. BPD questionnaire or clinical observation sufficient.
• Cutting or chronic suicidality (different than acute suicidality due to major depressive episode of either Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder.) Distinguishing is important due to tailoring research proven treatments to where it is shown to work.
• Fitting psycho-social understanding of BPD: invalidating background as well as resulting dysregulation across several of these five domains: social, emotional, relational, behavioral, occupational.
• Any referral from an area hospital must be at least given an intake.

Exclusion Criteria

• No active psychotic symptoms that prevent acquisition of skills group curriculum.
• No substance abuse as primary diagnosis.
• If substance dependence diagnosis, then they must have been abstinent for three months or in a program (such as AA/NA) for three months.
• Is Substance Abuse diagnosis, up to primary therapist’s discretion. May require abstinence or working a program for a month, or may allow directly into program.
• IQ of less than 70.
• Brain damage/trauma is not sufficient to exclude from program, but will be strongly considered toward exclusion if client is not able to show retention of material.

Still have questions?

Contact the Program Administrator at (484) 972-0346 or programsupport@ppcmh.com