Building a life worth living.

Master the skills to cope with life by balancing acceptance with change

Master coping skills

Adelaide DBT is a specialist centre that runs therapeutic programmes which will help you master the skills to cope with life by balancing acceptance with change.

Manage the challenges

Our team of experienced clinicians can help you learn to deal with difficult emotions and experiences so that you can survive anything life sends your way.

A life worth living

We understand that life is difficult and we will help you build your own confidence in your ability to achieve your life aspirations. DBT is known to increase life satisfaction.

What is DBT?

DBT is a modified version of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and works from the assumption that the way that we think, feel and behave is all interconnected and can influence one-another. DBT focuses on helping people understand and manage their emotions.

DBT works for people who have:

Intense emotions
Problems dealing with their emotions
Difficulty maintaining relationships (eg. family, partner, work mates)
Unstable relationships
Low self-esteem
Feelings of hopelessness (including feeling suicidal or self-harming)
Impulsive reactions
Alcohol and other drug problems
Poor relationships with food (eg. over eating / dieting)
Chronic depression
Chronic anxiety
Anger issues

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a specialist evidence-based therapy for people who experience intense emotions and have difficulty in coping with them. DBT was originally designed to treat people who have unhealthy coping (such as self-harm, substance use, hopelessness/avoidance), however there is evidence that DBT improves life satisfaction and mood for many clinical problems. DBT is an established evidence-based thearpy for Borderline Personality Disorder, with excellent evidence that it is effective in the treatment for eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and other complex clinical disorders.

There are four core skills within DBT: Mindfulness; Emotional Regulation; Interpersonal Effectiveness; and Distress Tolerance. By developing skills in each of these areas, you will learn how to manage and control emotions.

Have a look at our What to Expect section for information on how DBT is structured.

Our programs

DBT Skills Group

The original DBT programme including Skills Groups and Individual Therapy

Individualised

For those unable to commit to attending weekly skills groups

Short Skills Group

Designed to introduce clients to the principles of DBT.

Youth

Adelaide DBT offers a treatment programme specifically for the needs of young people.

Telehealth

Telehealth/Phone options - because we recognise that not everyone can make it into our offices!

Fees and Rebates

We are here to help

We understand that sometimes therapy can be daunting. Our team is approachable and is here to help!

What we can provide

Our skills groups are held in an educational format. During groups, our clinicians will provide you with information on a variety of skills to help you understand yourself and your experiences, how to cope with your emotions, and how to improve your behaviour (if it needs improvement). These skills are talked about quite specifically, however the format of DBT is designed for clients to engage in individual therapy so they have a personalised opportunity to discuss how to apply these skills to their life. Therefore it is expected that clients engage in individual therapy with one of our psychologists.

We provide phone coaching between sessions (during DBT Skills Group), so if you are struggling or experience a crisis we are on-call to talk you through the situation and aid in you in applying your developing DBT skills.

Terms & Conditions, Feedback and Complaints

Terms and Conditions: We are bound the Psychology Board of Australia's Registration Standards and Code of Conduct. Adelaide DBT's Terms and Condition can be accessed here. Of particular note is our Cancellation Policy, which requires advice of changes or cancellations of appointments prior to 12pm the business day before the appointment. If clients or a delegate do not let us know with sufficient notice, the full fee will be charged and this fee is not able to be claimed under medicare or private health insurance.

Feedback and Complaints: We pride ourselves on offering a high quality service, and feedback (both positive and negative!) is incredibly important to us to allow us to continuously improve and develop. Should you wish to provide any feedback, please do not hesitate to email or call us. If you are dissatisfied with the care provided or other elements of our service, we encourage you to discuss this with us so that we can attempt to resolve the issue.

Support

We appreciate how important support from others is!

For Families

It’s hard to see someone you care about suffering. We work with youth, young adults, and adults whilst offering support to the people who care about them. In either our family/loved ones workshops or through individual/family appointments, we teach parents, partners, and caregivers strategies for setting healthy boundaries, improving communication, and dealing with a your loved one’s overwhelming emotions.

How can DBT help?

DBT can teach you and your loved one skills to manage and effective respond to emotions and behaviours.

Our programmes will help you:

understand your own and others emotions, and responses to them
improve communication with people you love
effectively respond to challenges that come up in families/relationships when someone is struggling
respond to self-harming or risky behavior

We facilitate Family/Carer/Loved Ones workshops as well as host the Family Connections programs.

For Health Professionals

Adelaide DBT was developed in response to the need for longer-term structured therapy services in South Australia. We aim to be a specialist service in the provision of DBT as well specialists in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. Therefore, in addition to DBT, we offer individual therapy in a range of evidence-based therapies including Mentalization Based Therapy, Schema Therapy, CBT-E, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and more, all of which we have extensive experience with and have undertaken comprehensive training in.

If you would like to refer a client to us, we are happy to discuss our wide range of services and how we can support your clients. GP Mental Health Care Plans can be faxed to us on (08) 8311 1712. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions if you would like information about what to include in a referral and to clarify patient's eligibility for a Mental Health Care Plan.