Adolescent DBT Skills Groups
Helping teens build emotional resilience, improve relationships, and develop lifelong coping skills.
Weekly
Tuesdays | 6 PM to 8 PM
Held in-person at our Northwest Austin Location
We are flexible with age groupings and prioritize "goodness of fit" for each member. We assess factors such as presenting concerns, goals, cognitive development, and overall group dynamics to ensure every adolescent gets the most out of their experience.
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment designed to help individuals better understand and regulate their emotions, set and maintain healthy boundaries, reduce impulsive behaviors, and navigate relationships effectively.
DBT has been extensively researched and is proven to help adolescents and adults struggling with emotional ups and downs, anxiety, depression, self-harm, disordered eating, substance use, and suicidal thoughts. At Healgood, we use DBT to empower teens with practical skills to navigate life's challenges, equipping them for success in school, relationships, and beyond.
Healgood’s DBT Skills Group Room
The DBT Skills Modules
DBT includes four behavioral skill modules, with two acceptance-oriented skills (mindfulness and distress tolerance) and two change-oriented skills (emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness).
✔️ Mindfulness: Developing awareness of the present moment without judgment
✔️ Distress Tolerance: Managing emotional pain in difficult situations without making impulsive or harmful choices
✔️ Emotion Regulation: Understanding, managing, and changing emotional responses to reduce emotional suffering
✔️ Interpersonal Effectiveness: Learning to communicate needs, set boundaries, and navigate relationships while maintaining self-respect
What Makes Healgood’s DBT Skills Groups Unique?
✔️ Comprehensive DBT Program: We follow the empirically-backed DBT protocol
✔️ Co-Facilitated Groups: Every group is led by two experienced clinicians for personalized attention and support.
✔️ Complete DBT Curriculum: We follow empirically-based curriculum that covers all DBT modules, ensuring a structured, high-quality experience.
✔️ Multi-Family Skills Group: Parents/caregivers join once per module to learn alongside their teen and reinforce skills at home.
✔️ Small Group Size for Individualized Support: Our DBT group has a maximum enrollment of 7 to 8 members (typically 7, with a brief 2-week overlap of up to 8 members during enrollment transitions) to ensure personalized attention and a supportive group environment.
✔️ Collaboration with Providers: We coordinate care with individual therapists, psychiatrists, dietitians, and other specialists to ensure a holistic treatment approach.
✔️ Phone Coaching: Teens have access to in-the-moment skills coaching for real-life challenges outside of sessions.
✔️ Consultation Team: Our DBT clinicians meet regularly to ensure the best quality of care and support to teens and families.
✔️ Parent DBT Coaching: Parents have the option to work on parenting goals with additional DBT coaching sessions as needed.
✔️ Parent & Caregiver Communication: We send out a DBT Group Newsletter once per module to keep parents and caregivers informed. This includes important dates, skill recaps, practical strategies for reinforcing DBT at home, and additional psychoeducational resources to help support your teen’s progress.
Healgood's DBT Skills Group Workbook — Every group member gets a personal copy.
More About the Group
Our Adolescent DBT Skills Group is a structured, skills-based group designed to help teens learn and apply evidence-based coping strategies. This is not a process group, but rather a didactic group where participants actively build new skills and receive individualized coaching.
First Hour: The group leader reviews DBT Diary Cards with each member, providing coaching, feedback, and observations about how skills are being applied in daily life. Group members benefit not only from their own individual coaching but also from learning how others are practicing skills in real-life situations.
Second Hour: The group focuses on learning new DBT skills using handouts, homework sheets, experiential exercises, board work, and group discussion. Members are encouraged to practice the skill throughout the week and report back on their experiences, successes, and challenges.
All DBT skills build upon each other, so group members must commit to a minimum of 6 months to complete all modules:
✔️ Mindfulness
✔️ Distress Tolerance
✔️ Emotion Regulation
✔️ Interpersonal Effectiveness
Parent & Family Integration:
At the end of each module, we hold a Multi-Family Group where parents/caregivers join the session to discuss special topics and skills learned, helping families support and coach their teen in using self-management strategies at home.
Group Fees & Enrollment
Group Fee: $95*
In our optional Alumni group, for teens who graduate from the skills group, the primary goals are 1) to promote skills maintenance by reinforcing the progress made in the previous skills training group, 2) to help clients continue to practice and generalize the skills, and 3) to increase behaviors instrumental to quality of life while decreasing behaviors interfering with quality of life.
One-Time Materials Fee: $100* — Covers group members’ first copy of the DBT Skills Workbook, group activities, snacks and beverages.
Throughout the year, we have open enrollment periods where new group members can join the group. Prior to joining, group members will complete the following:
A Free Initial Group Consult | 30 mins | Free — This allows the client and family to ask any questions they may have about the group and begin to explore if they may benefit from the group.
A Holistic, Biopsychosocial Intake Assessment | 90 mins | $225* — This allows for the client and family to relay important treatment goals and background information. This also allows the client and family to build rapport with the group therapist, supporting the client in the transition to group. This assessment also helps ensure goodness-of-fit and that the client will benefit from the group.
Treatment Planning & Orientation Session | 50-min | Typically 1 to 2 sessions are needed | $185* — After the initial intake assessment, your clinician will collaborate with you to develop a treatment plan based upon your goals for the group. This will be reviewed with the client and family. You will then be provided with your DBT Skills Workbook and your clinician will begin to orient you to the group - the detailed group scheduled, what to expect, group rules, how to use the binder, and so on. Your clinician is also happy to answer any questions the client or family may have prior to joining the group.
*Sliding Scale Availability: We offer reduced-rate options based on availability of sliding scale spaces and financial need. Learn more: Sliding Scale Policy