DBT FEELINGS FIRST AID FOR MENTAL HEALTH SETTINGS

What is DBT Feelings First Aid?

DBT Feelings First Aid is a comprehensive, hands-on training that introduces your team to core DBT skills. These skills are designed to help individuals manage emotions, navigate crises, and communicate more effectively. Your team will leave with practical tools they can start using immediately, ensuring that both clinical and non-clinical staff feel confident handling emotional dysregulation, client crises, and challenging interactions.

This training is offered in two formats:

• Two-Day Intensive for Clinical Staff: Ideal for therapists, psychologists, social workers, and other licensed mental health professionals.
• One-Day Training for Support Staff: Tailored for case managers, peer support specialists, and non-clinical staff who interact directly with clients and assist with day-to-day challenges.

Who Should Attend?

DBT Feelings First Aid is designed for professionals working in diverse mental health settings, including:

• Community Mental Health Agencies
  
  
• Hospitals
  
  
• Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP)
  
  
• Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP)
  
  
• Residential Treatment Facilities
  
  
• Crisis Stabilization Units
  
  
• Addiction Recovery Programs
  
  
• Behavioral Health Clinics
  
  
• Rehabilitation Centers
  
  
• Case Management Services
  
  
• Transitional Living Programs

What Will Your Team Learn?

The DBT Feelings First Aid training provides hands-on, practical skills that your staff can use immediately with clients, patients, or residents. These skills include:

• Emotion Regulation: Teach clients how to identify, understand, and manage their emotions, leading to greater emotional stability and reduced impulsivity.
  
  
• Distress Tolerance: Provide clients with tools to survive emotional crises without making the situation worse, helping them build resilience and avoid harmful behaviors.
  
  
• Mindfulness Practices: Use mindfulness strategies to help clients stay grounded, focused, and present in the moment, which reduces anxiety and emotional overwhelm.
  
  
• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Help clients improve communication, manage conflicts, and set boundaries, leading to healthier relationships with peers, family, and staff.

Support for Your Staff

In addition to providing tools for client care, DBT Feelings First Aid teaches burnout prevention strategies that staff can use for themselves. Working in high-pressure environments like community mental health clinics, residential facilities, or crisis units can lead to emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue. This training emphasizes how DBT skills can be applied not only to clients but also to help staff manage their own stress, build emotional resilience, and protect against burnout.

Materials Included:

To make implementing DBT skills even easier, DBT Feelings First Aid includes a range of helpful materials that your team can use both during and after the training:

• Cheat Sheets: Quick-reference guides with DBT skills for staff and clients.
  
  
• Posters of DBT Skills: Visual tools to remind staff and clients of key DBT strategies.
  
  
• Skills Card Decks: Portable tools that staff and clients can use during moments of emotional distress to reinforce DBT techniques.
  
  

These materials ensure that DBT skills are easy to access and use in real-world situations, providing both staff and clients with ongoing support.

Why Schedule Both the One-Day and Two-Day Trainings?

By scheduling both the one-day training for support staff and the two-day intensive for clinical staff, your entire team will be aligned in their approach to emotional regulation and crisis management. This creates a consistent, unified system of care where every team member—whether they’re a case manager, therapist, or peer support specialist—is working toward the same goals with the same tools.

• Shared Language: With everyone using the same DBT skills and language, clients receive consistent support across all interactions, which promotes emotional stability and better outcomes.
  
  
• Aligned Goals: Whether your staff are in therapy sessions, on the floor in residential care, or providing outreach services, they’ll all be working toward helping clients manage emotions, reduce impulsivity, and build healthier relationships.
  
  
• Staff Well-Being: DBT skills aren’t just for clients—your staff will learn how to use these tools to manage their own emotional well-being, reduce stress, and prevent compassion fatigue, leading to a healthier and more engaged workforce.

How DBT Feelings First Aid Improves Client Outcomes

By integrating DBT skills into your team’s work, your organization will see a significant improvement in how clients handle emotional distress, manage relationships, and make progress in their treatment plans. Whether working with clients in mental health clinics, residential programs, or outpatient settings, these DBT tools will help clients:

• Gain control over their emotional responses.
• Survive emotional crises without resorting to harmful behaviors.
• Communicate more effectively with peers, family members, and staff.
• Build stronger relationships and achieve greater stability in their lives.

Ready to Schedule Your DBT Feelings First Aid Training?

Contact us today to bring DBT Feelings First Aid to your team and empower your staff with the tools they need to improve client outcomes while also protecting their own well-being. Whether you’re a mental health clinic, hospital, IOP, or community agency, this training offers practical, immediately applicable solutions to help both your clients and your team thrive.