DBT Skills Groups
DBT Skills Groups are designed to help individuals build more effective strategies for managing emotions, coping with distress, and improving relationships. Groups focus on learning and practicing new skills that participants can apply directly to their day-to-day lives.
The group covers the four core DBT skills modules:
Mindfulness
Distress Tolerance
Emotion Regulation
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Through these skills, participants learn to:
Increase focus and present-moment awareness
Develop effective strategies for surviving painful moments
Gain greater control over emotional reactions
Cultivate more positive emotional experiences
Improve relationships and decrease interpersonal conflict
Unlike many psychotherapy groups, DBT Skills Groups are structured more like a class or seminar than a traditional therapy group.
Groups meet once a week for 90 minutes. Each session begins with a brief mindfulness exercise, followed by a review of the previous week's homework, and then the teaching of new skills.
Completing one full cycle of the skills modules typically takes approximately eight months.
New members are introduced at the beginning of each module and are asked to commit to attending at least one full cycle to gain the full benefit of the program.
During your initial consultation, Dr. Harari will work with you to assess your needs and determine whether participation in a DBT Skills Group—or one of the specialized options described below—would be the best fit.
Specialized DBT Skills Groups
DBT Skills Group for Substance Use Disorders (DBT-SUD)
Many individuals who struggle with problematic drug or alcohol use also experience difficulties with emotional regulation, impulsivity, identity instability, and interpersonal conflict—challenges that DBT was originally designed to address.
The DBT-SUD group follows the same structure as the traditional DBT group but places additional emphasis on skills tailored for managing substance use alongside emotional dysregulation.
If you are interested in the DBT-SUD group, please mention this when you reach out.
DBT Skills Group for Gay Men
Many gay men face challenges that DBT was designed to address, including intense emotions, feelings of emptiness, impulsivity, unstable sense of self, and relationship difficulties.
Often, these symptoms are rooted in the chronic invalidation experienced from societal, communal, or familial rejection related to sexual identity.
General DBT group settings may not always feel fully affirming for gay men and can unintentionally reinforce feelings of invalidation.
To address this, Dr. Harari offers a DBT Skills Group specifically for gay men, providing a safe, supportive environment to speak openly about identity, community, and emotional resilience while learning the full set of standard DBT skills.
If you are interested in the gay men’s DBT group, please specify this in your initial contact.