Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps you become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and reactions without immediately acting on them. It teaches you how to stay grounded in the present and grounded instead of feeling overwhelmed by the past and future.
What Is DBT?
Specialized therapy that helps you build real-life coping skills
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a structured, evidence-based therapy designed to help you better manage intense emotions, improve relationships, reduce harmful behaviors, and create more stability in daily life.
At Mental Health Systems (MHS), DBT is more than just talking about problems. It’s a practical, skills-focused approach that helps you learn tools you can actually use outside of therapy: at home, at school, at work, and in relationships. These skills are meant to help you for the rest of your life.
Whether you’re struggling with overwhelming emotions, impulsive behaviors, anxiety, trauma, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, conflict in relationships, feeling stuck in unhealthy patterns, or simply weighed down by the everyday stress of life, DBT helps you develop healthier ways to cope and respond.
Our outpatient DBT programs support adolescents and adults through structured group therapy.
Why group therapy helps
Our group DBT programs are an effective way to address your mental health concerns. We understand that the idea of group therapy can be intimidating, but rest assured, it’s actually helpful. This isn’t about sharing your problems with a group – it’s about working with a group of supportive peers to help each other.
Learn more about the benefits of group therapy.
What does DBT help with?
DBT is used to treat many mental health concerns and behavioral challenges.
It may help if you experience:
- Intense or rapidly changing emotions
- Anxiety or panic
- Depression
- Trauma or PTSD symptoms
- Self-harm or suicidal thoughts
- Difficulty managing stress
- Relationship conflict
- Impulsive behaviors
- Substance use concerns
- Emotional outbursts or shutdowns
- Difficulty functioning at school, work, or home
DBT focuses on helping you respond to emotions more effectively instead of feeling controlled by them.
How DBT works
DBT combines acceptance and change.
That means learning to accept yourself and your experiences while also building skills to create meaningful change in your life. In DBT, you learn practical strategies in four core skill areas:
Distress Tolerance
These skills help you get through difficult moments safely and effectively without making situations worse. You learn ways to tolerate emotional pain, navigate crises, and reduce impulsive reactions.
Emotion Regulation
Emotion regulation skills help you better understand your emotions, reduce emotional intensity, and respond more effectively to stress and triggers.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
These skills help you communicate more clearly, set boundaries, improve relationships, increase self-worth, and navigate conflict in healthier ways.
Why group therapy is a core part of DBT
One of the most powerful parts of DBT is learning skills alongside other people who understand what you’re going through.
DBT group therapy is not traditional “group processing.” Instead, it’s a structured, supportive environment focused on learning and practicing practical coping skills together.
In group therapy, you can:
- Learn skills in a structured setting
- Hear how others apply DBT skills in real life
- Gain encouragement and accountability
- Reduce feelings of isolation
- Build confidence using new coping strategies
- Feel validated, understood and supported by peers
Many clients find that group therapy helps normalize their experiences and reminds them they are not alone in their struggles. Often, group feels like the only supportive environment.
Over time, the peer support and shared learning environment can become an important part of the healing process.
What makes DBT effective?
DBT is one of the most researched and effective treatments for emotional dysregulation and high-risk behaviors.
The reason DBT works for many people is because it focuses on actionable skill development – not just insight.
You don’t simply talk about challenges. You actively learn:
- How to cope differently
- How to pause before reacting
- How to navigate emotional situations more effectively
- How to communicate in healthier ways
- How to create more stability in everyday life
The goal is to help you build skills that continue helping long after therapy sessions end.
DBT at Mental Health Systems
Mental Health Systems provides specialized outpatient DBT and trauma treatment programs in-person or virtually for individuals in Minnesota.
Our programs are structured, supportive, and designed to help you make meaningful progress in daily life, not just in therapy sessions.
We offer:
- Adolescent DBT programs
- Adult DBT programs
- Trauma treatment
- Virtual and in-person options
- Multiple Twin Cities locations
- Streamlined referrals and intake scheduling
Our team understands that starting treatment can feel overwhelming. We work to make the process approachable, supportive, and accessible from the very beginning.
Getting started
If emotions, behaviors, or life circumstances have started to feel unmanageable, DBT can help you build practical tools to create more stability, confidence, and support in your life.
We’re here to help you take the next step.
Schedule an assessment to see if DBT is the right fit for you or your loved one.
Call: 952-835-2002.
