Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Offering DBT-informed individual and couples therapy. Please note I do not offer Comprehensive DBT in private practice. If you are seeking or require comprehensive DBT, please contact SoCal DBT at https://socaldbt.com for an assessment and request to work with Patti James.

I don't follow DBT to the core, I believe your emotions and feelings are real. However, we may not always be in the best spot to process or feel them fully. I work to give you tools to work with those emotions until we get to a safe place to express ourselves.

Train your brain and your body: dialectical behavior therapy techniques teach you how to experience your emotions without letting them take total control of your behavior. You will learn how to control your experience of emotions by learning 4 principles: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills. This approach can be helpful for coping with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, self harm thoughts and behaviors and mood disorders with behavioral disturbances.

My comprehensive background in DBT enables me to effectively teach core mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance skills. I specialize in helping clients with emotional dysregulation, borderline personality disorder, and other complex challenges. Through individual therapy and skills training, I support clients in building lives worth living while maintaining a balance between acceptance and change.

I have extensive clinical experience, coursework, and additional ceu training and certification in using DBT for a variety of clinical concerns.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive-behavioral treatment originally developed by Marsha M. Linehan. Diagnosed herself with BPD, Linehan had insight into how to improve treatment services for this population. The goal of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is to help people identify and use their strengths. In addition, this helps clients build self-esteem and positive feelings about life. Thus, DBT combines both cognitive and behavioral therapy techniques to further this goal.

DBT is for when your emotions are doing parkour and you need them to sit down. We focus on skills to survive the chaos—like boundaries, mindfulness, and not sending that text. It’s emotional regulation for people who feel all the things, all the time, and need a game plan that works in real life.

DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) is like emotional ninja training. It teaches you how to balance acceptance and change—kind of like walking a tightrope while juggling flaming swords (but way less dangerous). You’ll learn to handle big feelings without flipping tables, communicate like a pro, and calm your inner storm. It’s about becoming the cool, collected version of yourself who can tackle life’s chaos with mindfulness and maybe even a little sass. Think of it as emotional adulting 101!

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an approach I draw upon where appropriate to help clients manage overwhelming emotions, navigate relationships, and increase mindfulness. DBT provides practical tools for building emotional resilience and healthier coping mechanisms. By balancing acceptance and change, we address immediate challenges while creating space for meaningful growth and self-awareness.

I've participated in comprehensive DBT training, and have over two years experience co-facilitating and teaching weekly DBT skills group in community mental health. I've used DBT to successfully treat borderline personality, suicidal ideation, PTSD, and other hard-to-treat conditions. Challenging clients to think dialectically, I provide clients a variety of coping skills to better tolerate distress & regulate emotions, which allows clients opportunities to engage in new behaviors.

When working with clients, Andrea incorporates Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), having completed the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training through the Linehan Institute.

A fundamental premise of DBT is building a life we want to live in. It's goal-oriented and focuses on skills we can use and actions we can take to better our lives. DBT focuses on 4 core elements we can all learn more about: mindfulness, interpersonal-effectiveness, emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is centered around developing mindfulness and being present in your daily world, increasing your distress tolerance to help you handle the chaos you have to deal with on the daily, regulating emotions to help keep you feeling balanced, and strengthening your interpersonal relationships skills to support having healthy, meaningful connections.

Dialectical behavioral therapy focuses on high-risk, tough-to-treat patients. These patients often have multiple diagnoses.DBT was initially designed to treat people with suicidal behavior and borderline personality disorder. But it has been adapted for other mental health problems that threaten a person's safety, relationships, work, and emotional well-being.Borderline personality disorder is a disorder that leads to acute emotional distress. Patients may have intense bursts of anger.

I support clients in learning how to manage their emotions and improve relationships. Skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness are discussed.

I integrate DBT skills with nearly everybody I work with. DBT offers concrete ways to manage difficult situations, whether they're tolerating large amounts of distress, regulating emotions, being effective in interpersonal relationships, or developing mindfulness skills.