From Chaos to Calm: Using DBT Skills to Help Teens Regulate & Reconnect

From Chaos to Calm: Using DBT Skills to Help Teens Regulate & Reconnect is a 3-hour live, interactive continuing education program designed for licensed counselors and school-based mental health professionals who work with adolescents. This training provides an applied overview of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) principles and focuses on the practical implementation of DBT-informed skills to support adolescent emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal functioning.

Participants will explore the four core DBT skill modules—mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness—and learn developmentally appropriate strategies for teaching these skills to adolescents in individual counseling, group, and school-based settings. Emphasis is placed on translating DBT concepts into concrete, easy-to-implement interventions that can be integrated into existing counseling frameworks without requiring a full DBT program.

Through didactic instruction, live demonstration, experiential practice, and case-based discussion, participants will gain tools to address common challenges such as emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, conflict with peers or adults, and difficulty managing stress. The program is grounded in counseling theory and adolescent development and is designed to enhance counselor competence and confidence in using DBT-informed strategies with teen clients.Upon completion, participants will be able to:

Describe the core principles and skill modules of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and their relevance to adolescent counseling practice.

Demonstrate at least three DBT-informed skills that support emotional regulation and distress tolerance in adolescents.

Apply DBT strategies to common clinical and school-based scenarios involving adolescent emotional dysregulation and interpersonal challenges.

Integrate DBT-informed interventions into individual or group counseling settings using developmentally appropriate approaches.

This training is led by Marie Papini, LPC, Ed.S. Marie has over 20 years of experience in the mental health field, including 17 years serving adolescents within school settings. She is formally trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is passionate about sharing practical, evidence-based strategies with fellow professionals. 

This training is ideal for Professional School Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs), School Social Workers, counselors-in-training, and any other professional who works with adolescents.

3 CE Hours are available for participants registered and paid in full.  The cost for this 3-hour workshop is $55 for professionals, $40 for associate-level professionals, and $30 for graduate students and interns.  No refunds will be issued.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd414QlIBBe402fG3Z0OziTrYxR0adsV6f1Z1Qo585ft7QFKg/viewform