At DBT Clinics Australia, we provide structured Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Skills Classes and Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (RO DBT) Skills Classes.
While both programs teach practical psychological skills, they are designed for different patterns of emotional and behavioural functioning.
DBT Skills Classes primarily support people experiencing difficulties with emotion dysregulation, distress tolerance, impulsive behaviours and relationships.
RO DBT Skills Classes are designed for people experiencing difficulties associated with maladaptive overcontrol, including excessive self-control, perfectionism, rigidity, emotional inhibition and social disconnection.
An assessment and preparation process helps determine which program is most appropriate for you.
DBT or RO DBT Skills – Which Class Is Right for Me?
The two programs address different patterns.
DBT Skills may be more appropriate when:
You experience emotions that can quickly become overwhelming and find yourself reacting impulsively, entering crisis, struggling with relationships or using behaviours that provide immediate emotional relief but create longer-term difficulties.
RO DBT Skills may be more appropriate when:
You tend to respond to difficult emotions by increasing control – becoming more rigid, perfectionistic, emotionally inhibited, withdrawn, excessively cautious or determined to manage everything independently.
Some people recognise aspects of themselves in both descriptions.
You do not need to determine which program is appropriate by yourself.
Our assessment process helps identify whether your difficulties are primarily associated with undercontrol, overcontrol or another pattern requiring a different treatment approach.
DBT Skills Classes
Next DBT Skills Class Commences Wednesday, 26 August 2026
DBT Skills Classes provide structured education and practical skills for people who experience difficulties managing intense emotions, tolerating distress or navigating relationships effectively.
DBT does not assume that people should simply know how to regulate powerful emotions.
Instead, skills are explicitly taught, practised and applied to everyday situations.
Participants learn strategies that can help them understand their emotional responses, reduce behaviours that make difficult situations worse and respond more effectively when emotions are intense.
DBT Skills Classes are active and practical. Participants are encouraged to practise skills between sessions and gradually apply them to situations in their everyday lives.
What Will I Learn in DBT Skills Classes?
DBT skills are organised into four primary areas:
Mindfulness
Mindfulness provides the foundation for many other DBT skills.
Participants learn how to notice thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and urges without automatically reacting to them.
Mindfulness skills can help you:
- become more aware of what you are experiencing
- recognise emotional and behavioural patterns
- reduce automatic reactions
- focus attention more effectively
- make more deliberate choices
- access what DBT describes as Wise Mind.
The aim is not to stop thinking or eliminate emotions. It is to develop greater awareness and choice in how you respond.
Distress Tolerance
There are times when difficult situations cannot immediately be changed.
Distress tolerance skills focus on getting through these moments without making the situation worse.
Participants learn practical strategies for managing intense distress, responding to crises and reducing reliance on behaviours that may provide immediate relief but create longer-term difficulties.
Distress tolerance also includes learning about acceptance.
Acceptance does not mean approving of painful circumstances. It involves recognising reality as it currently exists so that we can respond to it more effectively.
Emotion Regulation
Emotion regulation skills help participants better understand emotions and the factors that influence them.
Participants learn strategies to:
- identify and describe emotions
- understand the purpose of emotions
- recognise emotional vulnerability
- check whether interpretations fit the facts
- respond differently to unhelpful emotional urges
- reduce vulnerability to intense emotional states
- increase positive experiences
- develop greater emotional resilience.
The goal of emotion regulation is not to become unemotional.
The goal is to experience emotions without automatically being controlled by them.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Relationships can become particularly challenging when emotions are intense.
Interpersonal effectiveness skills help participants communicate more clearly and navigate relationships while balancing three important priorities:
What do I want from this situation?
What matters for this relationship?
How do I maintain my self-respect?
Participants learn skills for:
- asking for what they need
- saying no
- establishing boundaries
- managing interpersonal conflict
- maintaining relationships
- validating other people
- maintaining self-respect
- communicating more effectively.
What Happens in a DBT Skills Class?
DBT Skills Classes are structured therapeutic learning environments.
Sessions generally involve:
Mindfulness practice
Learning and practising mindfulness skills.
Review of skills practice
Discussing how previously taught skills were applied during the week.
Learning new skills
The facilitator introduces and explains new DBT strategies.
Practical application
Participants explore how the skills can be applied to real-life situations.
Between-session practice
Participants are encouraged to practise skills between sessions so that they become increasingly familiar and accessible.
DBT skills are learned through practice.
Simply understanding a skill intellectually is different from being able to access that skill when emotions are intense. Regular practice helps bridge this gap.
Is a DBT Skills Class Group Therapy?
DBT Skills Classes are different from traditional process-oriented group therapy.
Participants are not expected to disclose their entire personal history or discuss deeply personal experiences in front of the class.
The focus is primarily on:
- learning skills
- practising skills
- understanding behavioural and emotional patterns
- applying skills to everyday situations.
Participants can contribute to discussions and ask questions, but the class is designed to maintain appropriate boundaries and psychological safety.
When Does the Next DBT Skills Class Start?
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Our next structured DBT Skills Class commences Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
Because DBT skills build upon one another, participants usually enter the program at designated commencement points rather than joining randomly throughout the program.
Before commencing, participants complete an assessment and preparation process to determine whether the DBT Skills Class is appropriate for their needs.
RO DBT Skills Classes
Entry Available Throughout the Program Following Commitment Sessions
Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (RO DBT) Skills Classes are designed for people whose difficulties are primarily associated with maladaptive overcontrol.
People attending RO DBT may appear highly controlled and capable while experiencing difficulties such as:
- perfectionism
- excessive self-control
- rigidity
- emotional inhibition
- excessive caution
- difficulty adapting to change
- difficulty expressing vulnerability
- high levels of self-criticism
- social withdrawal
- loneliness or emotional disconnection
- difficulty developing close relationships.
Unlike standard DBT, the aim is generally not to increase behavioural control.
Instead, RO DBT helps participants develop greater openness, flexibility, emotional expression and social connectedness.
What Will I Learn in RO DBT Skills Classes?
RO DBT Skills Classes explore a range of skills associated with psychological flexibility and social connection.
Participants learn about areas including:
Radical Openness
Developing greater receptivity to new experiences, feedback and information that may challenge existing beliefs.
Rather than automatically defending our existing position, radical openness encourages curiosity:
“What might I learn from this?”
Self-Enquiry
Self-enquiry involves approaching uncomfortable reactions with curiosity rather than immediately defending against them.
Participants learn to examine situations where they feel threatened, criticised, embarrassed or certain that they are right and consider whether there may be something useful to discover.
Flexible Control
RO DBT does not suggest that self-control is bad.
Self-control is often an important strength.
The aim is to develop the ability to recognise when control is useful and when loosening control may be more effective.
Participants practise responding more flexibly to uncertainty, change, mistakes and situations that cannot be completely controlled.
Social Signalling
RO DBT places particular emphasis on how we communicate with other people.
Our facial expressions, tone of voice, posture, gestures and behaviour communicate information even when we say very little.
Participants learn how excessive emotional inhibition can unintentionally communicate distance, disapproval or lack of interest even when this is not what they intend.
Emotional Expression
Appropriate emotional expression helps other people understand us and can contribute to trust and intimacy.
RO DBT helps participants experiment with expressing emotions more openly while maintaining appropriate boundaries.
The goal is not unrestricted emotional disclosure.
It is learning to communicate internal experiences in ways that support healthy connection.
Social Connection
A central goal of RO DBT is developing greater social connectedness.
Participants explore behaviours that can either strengthen or unintentionally interfere with connection, including excessive seriousness, emotional inhibition, withdrawal and difficulties allowing vulnerability.
RO DBT encourages appropriate playfulness, openness and interpersonal risk-taking as part of developing meaningful relationships.
How Do I Join an RO DBT Skills Class?
RO DBT has a different entry structure from our standard DBT Skills Classes.
RO DBT Skills Classes can be entered at any time following completion of the required commitment sessions.
Before entering the skills class, participants complete assessment and RO DBT commitment sessions.
These sessions provide an opportunity to:
- determine whether RO DBT is appropriate
- understand patterns of overcontrol
- identify personal treatment goals
- understand how the RO DBT program works
- discuss expectations and responsibilities
- establish commitment to treatment.
Once the commitment process has been completed and RO DBT is considered appropriate, participants can enter the ongoing RO DBT Skills Class.
This means you do not need to wait for the beginning of an entirely new RO DBT program before seeking treatment.
Do I Need Individual Therapy?
A skills class and comprehensive DBT or RO DBT treatment are not necessarily the same thing.
For some people, skills training may form one component of a broader treatment program involving individual therapy.
The appropriate level of treatment depends upon your needs, goals, current difficulties and clinical risk.
Our clinicians will discuss this with you during assessment and help determine the most appropriate treatment structure.
Start DBT or RO DBT Skills Training
At DBT Clinics Australia, our DBT and RO DBT Skills Classes provide structured, practical psychological skills within programs designed around different patterns of emotional and behavioural functioning.
DBT Skills
Next class commences Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
Places are available following assessment and preparation.
Enquire about the August DBT Skills Class
RO DBT Skills
Entry is available throughout the program following completion of RO DBT commitment sessions.
You do not need to wait for the beginning of a new RO DBT skills cycle.
Not Sure Which Program Is Right for You?
You do not need to decide between DBT and RO DBT before contacting us.
An initial assessment can help identify your patterns of emotional and behavioural responding and determine whether DBT Skills, RO DBT Skills, comprehensive treatment or another therapeutic approach is likely to best meet your needs.