Recognise your patterns. Learn how to respond differently when they arise.
Many people joining our DBT programmes are autistic, have ADHD or otherwise identify as neurodivergent.
We recognise that emotional regulation doesn’t exist separately from your nervous system, sensory experience, attention, executive functioning, communication differences or the environments you’ve had to navigate.
Our approach isn’t about teaching you to appear less autistic or less ADHD. It’s about helping you understand your own patterns and develop strategies that are actually usable in your life.
What issues can DBT help with?
- For individuals with autism, DBT can help navigate extreme emotional sensitivity and intense relationship patterns. It offers strategies to cope with sensory overload and improve social interactions.
- For those with ADHD, DBT addresses issues like impulsivity and mood swings. It provides techniques to enhance focus, reduce reactivity, avoidance and manage the emotional rollercoasters often associated with these conditions. DBT is a structured, skills-based therapy involving weekly worksheets and between-session practice. Engagement with these elements is central to the model. If committing to structured participation feels difficult at present, ongoing individual therapy alongside the group is indicated.
- DBT also assists in managing feelings of anger, depression, anxiety and shame. Our programme also helps with eating difficulties, self-harm, and other problematic urges, offering a comprehensive approach to emotional regulation.
What skills does DBT teach?
Our online DBT skills programme follows the same structured curriculum as our in-person programme in London. The four core modules build on one another over 36 weeks, helping you develop practical skills that can be applied in everyday life:
8-week Core Mindfulness & Nervous System Mapping
Learn to notice thoughts, emotions, urges and nervous-system responses earlier, creating more space to choose how you respond. This trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming module also helps you understand how past experiences and differences in sensory and emotional processing may shape your reactions.
8-week Distress Tolerance
Develop practical ways to manage emotional crises, tolerate distress and reduce impulsive reactions without making difficult situations worse.
12-week Emotion Regulation
Understand your emotional system, reduce vulnerability to intense reactions and learn ways to respond to emotions more effectively.
8-week Interpersonal Effectiveness
Learn to communicate your needs, set boundaries, navigate conflict and maintain both relationships and self-respect.
10-week Advanced Relationship Skills in Action
After completing the core modules, you can also continue into our advanced module to develop these skills further through guided practice with real-life interpersonal situations.
For a detailed description of each module, including what you’ll learn and how the skills are applied, please visit the “What will I learn” section of our main DBT Programme page.
Are there separate DBT groups for autistic or ADHD participants?
At present, we don’t run separate DBT groups specifically for autistic people or people with ADHD. Our DBT programme is transdiagnostic, which means that neurodivergent and neurotypical participants learn together in the same groups.
In practice, many people attending our groups are autistic, have ADHD, or identify as neurodivergent. Rather than separating participants according to diagnosis, we aim to make the DBT skills relevant and accessible to different ways of experiencing, processing and responding to the world.
This means paying attention not only to thoughts and emotions, but also to factors such as sensory overload, nervous-system activation and shutdown, attention, impulsivity, executive functioning and communication differences.
This is also one of the reasons we’ve integrated Nervous System Mapping into our Core Mindfulness module. It helps you begin recognising your own patterns of activation, regulation and shutdown, and understand what may be happening before you’re already overwhelmed or reacting automatically.
How to begin?
You don’t need a psychiatric diagnosis or referral to join our DBT programme. If you’re referred by a psychiatrist or therapist, they’re welcome to share relevant information about your history, current difficulties, risk and previous treatment to support your assessment.
1. Initial Assessment
You’ll first meet individually with one of our therapists. We’ll explore what you’re currently finding difficult, relevant parts of your history, previous therapy experiences, patterns you’d like to change and what you’re hoping DBT might help you with.
You’ll also have time to ask questions, discuss any concerns and explore together what might make it difficult for you to engage in the programme and how these obstacles could be addressed.
The assessment is more than a screening exercise. It’s an opportunity to begin developing a shared understanding of your experiences, identify your goals and explore whether DBT is the right approach for you.
2. Preparation and Orientation
If DBT is appropriate for you, you’ll be offered up to three individual preparation and orientation sessions. Your assessing therapist will determine how many sessions are needed.
These sessions are an important part of DBT, not simply an introduction or administrative requirement. They give you dedicated time with your therapist to understand how DBT works and begin applying it to your own experiences.
Together, you’ll:
- Explore the difficulties and patterns you’d like to change.
- Identify what matters most to you and what you’d like your life to look like.
- Begin learning practical DBT tools you can use in everyday situations.
- Understand how the skills group works, what happens during sessions and what participation involves.
- Discuss any concerns or adjustments that could help you engage with the programme.
The aim is for you to begin DBT with a clearer understanding of what you’re working towards, how the programme can help and what to expect. You’ll also have the opportunity to start practising useful skills before the group begins.
At least one orientation session must take place before you join the group. Depending on your assessment, any remaining sessions may be completed alongside your first few weeks of group attendance.
3. Joining Your DBT Group
Following your assessment and initial preparation, you’ll join a DBT skills group at the next suitable module starting date, subject to availability.
Our groups follow a structured programme, with each module focusing on a different set of skills. You’ll receive information about your group schedule and what to expect before your first session.
If you’re completing our comprehensive DBT programme, you’ll also attend weekly individual DBT therapy and have access to phone skills coaching between sessions.
Fees
Our comprehensive DBT programme, which includes individual therapy, skills classes, and phone skills coaching, costs between £185 and £220 per week. For the breakdown of fees please click here.
If you prefer to join only the DBT skills groups, the cost is £85 per class (payable per module). We offer a limited number of concessionary places for individuals with low income.
To reserve your spot in the skills group, 50% of the module fee is paid at the time of booking. This deposit is non-refundable. The remaining fee is due one week before the module starts. You must commit to the entire module, and the fee covers all sessions, including any missed or cancelled ones.