Music Therapy Meets DBT: Training & Resources
Confidently Guide Clients Through Their Toughest Moments
Whether you’re just starting with DBT or ready for advanced training, choose your next step below.
Start Here - Intro to DBT
Best if you’re new to DBT.
Discover how DBT can strengthen your music therapy practice.
2 CMTEs
DBT Essentials Toolkit for MTs
Best if you’re ready to go beyond the basics.
Start applying DBT in your music therapy practice.
23 CMTE credits
DBT Informed Music Therapy Training
Best if you’re ready for comprehensive training.
Transform the way you practice.
Become a DBT-Informed Music Therapist.
100 CMTEs | Yearlong Program
I, Deborah Spiegel, have been integrating DBT into my music therapy practice since 2001 and teaching other music therapists to do the same since 2011.
What is DBT?
DBT is an evidence-based therapy model that teaches clear, actionable skills for navigating life’s challenges, making wise decisions, and improving emotional and interpersonal effectiveness.
At The Spiegel Academy, you’ll learn how to integrate DBT principles into your music therapy sessions ethically, confidently, and in ways that truly support real-world change ... with training that can lead to recognition as a DBT Informed Music Therapist.
Learn how to help clients find emotional balance using DBT’s proven skill sets ... made practical through music.
Gain confidence with structured, ready-to-use interventions for mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Strengthen your own ability to cope, regulate, and thrive - bringing more calm, clarity, and purpose to your work.
As a music therapist, you'll add a powerful dimension to your practice
Explore DBT & Music Therapy Courses
Choose the class or resource that fits what you want to learn next.
Most of these courses and resources, plus much more, are included in the yearlong DBT-Informed Music Therapy Training.
DBT 101:
Integrating DBT Into Your Music Therapy Practice for Effective Results!
Get a clear, practical introduction to DBT and how it can enhance your music therapy practice. Explore skills to help clients cope with difficult moments, regulate emotions, and communicate more effectively.
2 CMTE Credits
$50
DBT Practical Life Skills
Reinforced through
Music Therapy
Learn how to use music therapy to teach, practice, and reinforce practical DBT skills. Explore music-based interventions that support mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Also included in the DBT Essentials Toolkit.
10 CMTE Credits
$250
DBT Essentials
Toolkit for
Music Therapists
Build a strong foundation in DBT while learning practical skills and music therapy interventions you can use with your clients. Get the tools you need to begin thoughtfully integrating DBT principles into your music therapy practice.
23 CMTE Credits
$497
DBT Skills Through Music:
Learning &
Resource Hub
Build your DBT-informed music therapy toolkit one skill at a time with ready-to-use interventions, session ideas, videos, and resources for teaching and reinforcing DBT skills through music.
Also included with:
DBT Essentials Toolkit • 2 months
DBT-Informed MT Training • 1 year
21 CMTE Credits
$490/year or $49/month
DBT Informed
Music Therapy Training
Comprehensive Yearlong Program
Gain the skills, confidence, and ongoing support to thoughtfully integrate DBT into your music therapy practice. This yearlong training combines in-depth learning, music-based DBT interventions, supervision, and consultation as you apply what you learn with your own clients.
100 CMTE Credits
Merging DBT Mindfulness
and Music: A Transformative
Six-Week Program
Get a ready-to-use six-week program for integrating mindfulness and music with your clients. Learn how to facilitate DBT-informed, music-based experiences that support mindfulness and emotional well-being.
8 CMTE Credits
$200
Mindfulness
and Music
in Clinical Practice
Integrate mindfulness and music into individual and group music therapy sessions. Learn practical techniques to strengthen self-awareness and support clients with symptom management.
8 CMTE Credits
$200
Holding Grief with Music: Music Therapy Interventions and DBT Strategies for Grief, Loss, and Emotional Regulation
Support clients through grief and loss with practical music therapy interventions and DBT-informed strategies. Gain tools to foster emotional regulation, coping, and meaning-making across a range of bereavement experiences.
7 CMTE Credits
$175
Understanding Neurodiversity
and Modified DBT Techniques
in Music Therapy
Deepen your understanding of autism, ADHD, and neurodiversity and how these differences can impact your work with clients. Learn practical ways to adapt DBT skills,avoid unintentional invalidation, and create more responsive, individualized support for neurodivergent clients.
9 CMTE Credits
$97
Songwriting Strategies
for Therapeutic Impact:
Lyric Replacement and DBT
Bring fresh structure and purpose to songwriting interventions using lyric replacement and parody. Learn how to integrate the DBT distress tolerance skill IMPROVE to help clients build practical skills for getting through difficult moments.
2 CMTE Credits
$50
👉 See research on DBT and music therapy here.
Hear From Music Therapists Using DBT in Their Work
Caitlin Carter MT-BC and Kelly Howard MT-BC share
how DBT Informed Music Therapy Training transformed their clinical work and improved client outcomes.
Caitlin Carter, MT-BC, works at an inpatient state psychiatric hospital, supporting patients experiencing substance misuse, suicidality, aggression, and self-harm.
When her hospital increased its focus on suicide prevention, members of the treatment team were sent for DBT training. Cait was not initially included because she was a music therapist.
Rather than remain on the sidelines, Cait enrolled in The Spiegel Academy’s DBT-Informed Music Therapy Training.
Through the program, she developed a deeper understanding of DBT skills and learned how to integrate them into her work as a music therapist. As she began putting what she learned into practice, her colleagues saw the value of her DBT-informed music therapy work.
Cait became more confident discussing DBT with the treatment team, teaching the skills, and integrating them into her clinical work.
“It’s a great program, and all music therapists can benefit from it, no matter what population you work with.”
Kelly Howard, MT-BC, works with teens and adolescents in mental health.
Before the training, Kelly says she sometimes felt like she was “putting a Band-Aid on a boo-boo” with her music therapy. She wanted to be able to offer clients more than something that helped them feel better in the moment.
DBT changed that.
Today, Kelly feels equipped with practical strategies and skills she can integrate into music therapy to help her clients not only in the moment, but throughout their lives.
The training has also had an impact beyond her clinical work. Kelly uses DBT skills in her own life and says the experience has left her feeling more empowered in her work as a music therapist.
And the time and financial commitment?
“It’s worth it. It’s worth the time and the financial commitment. It is worth every bit!”
Kelly also values the opportunity to learn, interact, and build relationships with other music therapists through the live training and consultation.
“This changed my life!”
Founder of DBT Informed Music Therapy Training
“Hi, I'm Deborah Spiegel MT-BC.
I’ve been a Music Therapist since 1976, and nothing has been more transformative for my patients and for me than training as a DBT-informed music therapist and integrating those skills into practice.
Since 2001, I’ve applied DBT directly in music therapy, and since 2011 I’ve been training other music therapists to do the same.
Now, together with my team of credentialed DBT clinicians and DBT-informed music therapists, I’m excited to share these tools with you so you too can make a bigger impact in your clients’ lives and your own.”
Resources: Check out My Books!
Creative DBT Activities
Using Music:
Interventions for Enhancing Engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy
by Deborah Spiegel, Suzanne Makary, Lauren Bonavitacola,
(Jessica Kingsley 2020)
Inside the Book:
Part 1
Group activities to teach and reinforce DBT skills
Part 2
Written in a self-help format so you can print pages for handouts to give to clients.
Creative DBT Activities for Children
Using Music
Musical DBT-informed activities that equip educators, therapists, and parents with tools to reach the social and emotional needs of children through fresh and creative activities.
A great resource for any skills teaching program introducing DBT to younger children. The musical activities have been imaginatively linked to DBT skills helping to make the concepts accessible to younger minds. Each chapter includes a session plan, suggested adaptations and links to supporting resources for flexible use.
Stephanie Hastings PhD, Co-Deputy Director PG Dip DBT, Bangor University
by Deborah Spiegel, Suzanne Makary, Lauren Bonavitacola, Chelsea Steen
(Jessica Kingsley 2025)
Other DBT Books that We Recommend
Click each photo to see more about the book on Amazon.
The following book links are Amazon affiliate links, as is my original book above.
Disclaimer:The DBT-Informed Music Therapist designation is reserved for individuals who have completed The Spiegel Academy’s comprehensive DBT-Informed Music Therapy Training Program, including specialized coursework, supervision, and skills integration. Participation in other DBT courses, workshops, or resources offered by The Spiegel Academy provides education in DBT principles and techniques but does not confer the DBT-Informed Music Therapist designation.