DBT-Informed Support, Programmes and Workshops

Practical skills for managing emotions, relationships and everyday life

At Blue Amber, I offer flexible DBT-informed coaching and mentorship for individuals and groups.

Support does not have to follow one fixed format. Depending on your needs, you can access DBT-informed support as:

  • Individual sessions booked one at a time

  • A structured 12-week programme

  • A focused two-hour intensive session

  • Group skills sessions

  • Interactive workshops

  • A tailored programme or series of sessions

Together, we can discuss which option feels most suitable for your needs, goals and current capacity.

What is DBT-informed coaching and mentorship?

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy—or DBT—offers practical skills for understanding and managing difficult emotions, coping with stressful situations, improving relationships and responding to life with greater awareness.

My DBT-informed approach combines skills teaching with coaching and mentorship. It is structured and psychologically informed, while remaining flexible enough to reflect your individual circumstances.

The work can support:

  • Emotional regulation

  • Nervous-system stability

  • Functional resilience

  • Healthier communication and boundaries

  • Greater self-understanding

  • Sustainable, realistic change

Skills are adapted to support neurodivergence, physical health needs, pain, fatigue, sensory sensitivity and the demands of everyday life.

Ways to access DBT-informed support

Individual sessions

Sessions can be booked individually, giving you the flexibility to focus on a particular skill, situation or current difficulty without committing to a complete programme.

This may suit you if you would like targeted support, occasional skills refreshers or the freedom to arrange sessions around your health, energy or circumstances.

Structured 12-week programme

The 12-week programme provides a more comprehensive and carefully paced pathway through the main DBT skill areas.

It gives you time to learn, practise and integrate the skills into your everyday life, with ongoing support, reflection and accountability.

Focused two-hour intensive

A two-hour intensive provides dedicated time to explore a particular issue or DBT skill area in greater depth.

An intensive may focus on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, boundaries, communication, managing overwhelm or creating a practical plan for a difficult situation.

These sessions may be offered individually or in an appropriate group format.

Group sessions and workshops

DBT-informed group sessions and workshops provide an accessible and interactive way to learn practical skills alongside others.

Workshops can introduce the foundations of DBT or concentrate on a particular theme, such as:

  • Managing intense emotions

  • Coping with distress and overwhelm

  • Developing healthier boundaries

  • Communicating more effectively

  • Mindfulness and nervous-system awareness

  • Understanding emotional and behavioural patterns

  • Supporting neurodivergent wellbeing

Workshops and group programmes can be tailored according to the needs, size and focus of the group.

If you are unsure which format would be most helpful, please get in touch. We can discuss individual sessions, intensives, programmes, group work, workshops or another suitable arrangement.

The four central DBT skill areas

Mindfulness

Developing awareness of thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations and nervous-system signals without immediately reacting to them.

Distress tolerance

Learning practical ways to manage stressful or emotionally intense moments without making the situation worse.

Emotion regulation

Understanding emotional patterns, reducing vulnerability to overwhelm and responding to emotions more effectively.

Interpersonal effectiveness

Strengthening communication, boundaries, assertiveness, relationship awareness and the ability to ask for what you need.

Who may benefit?

DBT-informed support may be helpful if you experience:

  • Intense or rapidly changing emotions

  • Emotional reactivity, shutdown or overwhelm

  • Difficulties with boundaries or relationships

  • Burnout or chronic stress

  • ADHD, Autism or other forms of neurodivergence

  • Chronic illness, pain, fatigue or fluctuating capacity

  • Traits associated with BPD or EUPD

  • Difficulty coping during high-stress situations

It may also suit you if you want to learn DBT-informed skills without entering formal psychotherapy and are willing to practise realistic, manageable tools between sessions.

Compassionate, trauma-informed support

My approach is trauma-informed, body-aware and grounded in compassion.

Skills are introduced using a stabilisation-first approach. Your nervous-system safety, capacity and pace are prioritised, and I avoid rigid or shame-based ways of working.

Sessions are collaborative, structured and responsive. They may include:

  • DBT-informed skills teaching

  • Applying skills to real situations

  • Reflection and integration

  • Support with routines and planning

  • Decision-making and problem-solving

  • Clear, compassionate accountability

Where deeper trauma processing or therapeutic work may be needed, we will discuss this openly. DBT-informed coaching and mentorship can sometimes be used alongside psychotherapy or as preparation for further therapeutic work.

DBT-informed support for neurodivergent clients

DBT skills can be particularly valuable for neurodivergent people when they are delivered with flexibility and understanding.

Possible adjustments include:

  • Simplified and clearly explained skills

  • Sensory-aware approaches

  • Executive functioning support

  • Flexible pacing

  • Support that considers fatigue, pain and fluctuating health

  • Practical tools designed to reduce overload and burnout

The aim is to make the skills useful and realistic—not to force you into a one-size-fits-all approach.

Possible benefits

DBT-informed support may help you develop:

  • Improved emotional regulation

  • Reduced reactivity and overwhelm

  • Greater self-awareness and self-compassion

  • Clearer communication and healthier boundaries

  • Increased confidence and trust in yourself

  • Practical tools for everyday life, work, health and relationships

  • A stronger ability to cope with difficult moments

Important information

DBT-informed coaching, mentorship and skills education are not crisis services and do not replace medical care, specialist mental-health treatment or clinical psychotherapy.

Suitability is considered collaboratively. If your needs fall outside the scope of the service, I may recommend seeking additional or alternative professional support.

Enquiries and next steps

If you are interested in DBT-informed support, please contact me to discuss what you are looking for.

Whether you are considering an individual session, the structured 12-week programme, a focused two-hour intensive, group sessions or a workshop, an initial conversation will help us identify the most appropriate format.

Telephone: 01278 760680 or 07815 606372
Email: blueambercounselling@live.co.uk

 

Blue Amber Counselling-Lizzy Oakley