DBT 101: Integrating DBT Into Your Music Therapy Practice for Effective Results- (2 CMTEs)

Do you work with clients who struggle with big emotions, impulsive behaviors, ineffective coping strategies, or difficulty communicating with others?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers a practical, skills-based framework for addressing these challenges, and its emphasis on experiential learning creates natural opportunities for integration with music therapy.

In this introductory course, you’ll learn what DBT is, how it works, and why music therapists are incorporating DBT skills into their clinical practice across populations and settings. You’ll be introduced to practical skills that help clients manage difficult emotions, tolerate distress, reduce impulsive responses, regulate emotions more effectively, and improve interpersonal communication.

Most importantly, you’ll begin exploring what DBT can actually look like in a music therapy session. You’ll see examples of how music can help clients experience, practice, remember, and reinforce DBT skills rather than simply talking about them.

You’ll also discover communication strategies you can use not only with clients, but in your own professional and personal interactions.

Whether DBT is completely new to you or you’ve encountered some of the skills and want to understand how they fit together, DBT 101 gives you an approachable introduction to DBT through a music therapy lens and practical ideas you can begin using right away.

In this workshop, you will learn:

What DBT is, how it is structured, and why its skills-based approach can complement music therapy.
How DBT addresses challenges such as impulsive behavior, emotional dysregulation, ineffective coping, and interpersonal difficulties.
An introduction to the core areas of DBT skills and how they can be relevant across different populations and treatment settings.
Ways music can be used to help clients experience, practice, remember, and reinforce DBT skills.
Practical communication strategies that can strengthen client interactions and your own everyday communication.
Examples of how DBT-informed music therapists are integrating DBT concepts and music-based interventions into clinical practice.
How developing DBT knowledge can expand your clinical toolkit and create new opportunities for professional growth.

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Presented by Deborah Spiegel MT-BC, Founder of the DBT informed Music Therapy Training Program, Author of the book Creative DBT Activities Using Music: Interventions for Enhancing engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy (Jessica Kingsley 2020) and Creative DBT Activities for Children Using Music (Jessica Kingsley 2025)

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What This Course Is and Is Not

DBT 101 is an introduction to DBT and how it fits with music therapy. This course will give you a foundation in DBT skills and ideas for using them in your sessions.
If you decide you want to go further with DBT-informed music therapy, there are additional training and toolkit options available, but this course stands on its own as a practical introduction you can begin using right away.
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Integrating DBT Into Your Music Therapy Practice for Effective Results! is approved by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) for 2 CMTEs-Continuing Music Therapy Education credits. The Spiegel Academy, CBMT Approved Provider #P-106, maintains responsibility for program quality and adherence to CBMT policies and criteria.

Class Description