Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) in Guelph

For adults and youth dealing with intense emotions

2 somatic therapists standing in an archway in their Ontario therapy office laughing.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based therapy approach for people who feel things at a higher volume than most of the people around them. If that’s you, people have been telling you for years that you’re too sensitive or that you’re overreacting. DBT is also good for depression and anxiety.

The “dialectical” part of the name means two things are true at once: you’re doing the best you can with what you’ve got, and some of what you do needs to change.

With DBT, you’ll learn practical skills in four areas:

  • Mindfulness, so you can notice what’s happening while it’s still happening

  • The ability to tolerate distress, so you can get through a bad spot without wrecking your day

  • Emotion regulation, so you can “turn the volume down” before you get overwhelmed

  • Interpersonal skills, so you can ask for what you need without steamrolling anyone or disappearing

DBT doesn’t ask you to feel less. It helps you keep and acknowledge your feelings, so you get more say in what happens when you’re having them.

  • We use DBT for:

    • Emotions that go from zero to everything, with nothing in between

    • The “crash” that happens after big feelings (and the self-criticism that often comes after the crash)

    • Relationship conflicts where the intensity of your feelings does more damage than the disagreement

    • Impulsivity, and impulsive decisions you might make when your feelings are at their peak

    • Excessive people-pleasing or “trouble saying no”

    • High sensitivity, especially if the people around you have always thought of it as a flaw

    • Emotional issues in teens and young adults, when your emotions arrive at full strength before you have the skills to manage them

    DBT also pairs well with deeper work on where big feelings start. Most of us learned to react the way we do somewhere, often early and often at home. We’ll give you the skills to use now, and the understanding of your history behind them.

  • You might have read about some of these DBT techniques in popular books. But books can’t help you in the middle of a hard moment. We’ll prepare for those moments together.

    We’ll pick something that happened this week, like the text you sent at 11 p.m., or the thing you said to your kid that you’re still carrying around. Then we’ll work backward through it slowly, looking at what set you off and what those emotions might have been trying to do for you.

    From there we’ll find the skills that fit that exact moment, and we’ll practice them together. Through it all, we’ll keep those “two true things” in mind: what you do makes perfect sense given your feelings, and there are different moves available next time.

  • If your emotions arrive fast and big, or if you’ve spent years with people “managing” you instead of understanding you, then DBT might be a good approach for you. You’ll get concrete skills you can use, and understand why you’re using them.

The boho lobby of a Guelph therapy office for ADHD counselling in Ontario

Questions about DBT in Guelph

  • Yes, we work with kids as young as 11. Dialectical behaviour therapy suits teens well. We can also schedule family sessions or check-ins with parents that complement the therapy.

  • Yes, Golden Horizons can meet virtually with you anywhere in Ontario or Alberta.

  • Yes. DBT was developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan, and Behavioral Tech, the training organization she founded, publishes an overview of how DBT works and what the research has found.

Book a free 15-minute call, by phone or video, to talk about whether DBT is the right fit for you.

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