Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Group

A 12-session course in autumn 2025 ***New starting date: Now starting 20th of August 2025!***

 When: 17:30-19:00, Wednesdays until 5th of November

Where: Fredrikinkatu 20 B 10, 00120 Helsinki

Cost:  74€ per week – includes 1.5 hrs of group therapy and practice for DBT skills and 45 minutes of individual coaching sessions every week. First week paid in webshop (link below) and following sessions paid by card on site.

Do you often feel overwhelmed by your emotions?

Do intense emotions get in the way of achieving your goals, building and maintaining relationships?

Do you experience challenges in finding balance between your and other people’s needs, asking for what you want, and saying no?

Compass Psychology is running a DBT Skills group this autumn for 12 weeks, starting on the 20th of August. This is a coaching-based intervention with theory and practice explained each week in a 1.5 hr session in a group setting, which is then reinforced in an individual, one-hour session with a group facilitator each week. 

In this course, you will learn:

• How to be more present and mindful – to respond with intention rather than reacting on autopilot
• A deeper understanding of your emotions and what they do for you
• How to manage intense emotions without making the situation worse
• How to express your emotions in a healthy way
• How to set clear and healthy boundaries
• How to maintain balance in relationships

Course Outline

• Session 1 – Orientation, Walking the Middle Path
• Session 2 – Mindfulness Skills
• Session 3 – Distress Tolerance Skills: STOP, Pros and Cons
• Session 4 – Distress Tolerance Skills: TIP Skills, Distracting, Self-Soothing, Improving the Moment
• Session 5 – Distress Tolerance Skills: Reality Acceptance
• Session 6 – Emotion Regulation Skills: Understanding and Labelling Emotions
• Session 7 – Emotion Regulation Skills: Myths, Checking the Facts
• Session 8 – Emotion Regulation Skills: Opposite Action
• Session 9 – Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Getting What You Want (DEAR MAN)
• Session 10 – Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Relationship Effectiveness (GIVE)
• Session 11 – Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Self-Respect Effectiveness (FAST)
• Session 12 – Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Factors in the Way

What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)? 

DBT encourages us to accept and change, but not suppress, difficult emotions, and to increase positive emotions.  During the DBT group sessions, we will practice skills such as emotion regulation, effective connection and communication with others, mindfulness and distress tolerance. As opposed to talking through problems, DBT’s focus is on identifying external triggers to distressing feelings and learning healthier coping responses.  We will gently and safely explore your thoughts and emotions, and where in your body you feel your emotions. We will investigate the interpretations of events that bring about distressing emotions, and how in turn these affect the type and quality of thinking. We will do this in small incremental steps, always checking you are comfortable with the process.

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy that combines behavioural therapy, mindfulness-based practice and acceptance-based philosophy and practice. Research has shown DBT to be especially effective for clients struggling with impulsivity, self-harming tendencies and difficulties in regulating their emotions, such as those with borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT has also been used to treat clients with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders and ADHD, who have symptoms functionally similar to BPD.

DBT is not recommended for individuals with intellectual disabilities nor with treatment resistant psychotic disorders. Individuals who are unable to control open hostility toward others are also not suitable for these group sessions.

Group facilitators: Barbora Prokešová and Nic Boendermaker

Barbora (she/her) is in the second year of her Master’s degree in Psychology at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Her focus is clinical psychology, particularly psychotherapy. For the past year, Barbora has been working as a DBT skills trainer in group therapy for adults with BPD at Kaleidoskop – Centre for DBT in Prague. She is currently writing her Master’s thesis on the topic “Experiences of Novice DBT Therapists.”

Nic (they/them) is in the final phase of a Clinical Psychology Master of Science degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Guided by their focus in psychotherapy, their master’s thesis focused on the therapeutic alliance: the working relationship between psychologist and client. During their studies, Nic has developed their own therapeutic skills through extensive training in “nonviolent communication.” For the last six months, they have been able to put these skills into practice through an internship at a small private psychology practice in Leiden, the Netherlands