Unlocking Student Success: Integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy in School Counseling

Speaker 1: Hello school counselor friend, welcome back to the School for School Counselors podcast here for episode number 48. This week we're going to be talking about DBT approaches in school counseling. DBT is dialectical behavior therapy. What does that have to do with school counseling? It sounds pretty intense, believe it or not. There's a lot of really great applications of DBT in the school setting, so we're going to jump into all of those this week as well as talking about what these DBT approaches can help with. In spoiler alert, it's probably your kids that you often look at and think what do I do next? Like I've got nothing? Where do I go next with you? DBT approaches are going to help solve that equation. Before we jump in this week, as always, i'd love to read you a recent review of our podcast. This comes from Lil C0016 and they titled it In Awe.

Speaker 1: I'm a new school counselor and I'm obsessed with this podcast. I'm so glad I found school for school counselors. I have been listening to this podcast to and from work. I have a three hour round trip. Oh, my goodness, let me pause right there. Reviewer, you deserve a medal for a three hour round trip. Just saying All right, moving on, they said. Even as a new counselor, i can relate so much to the topics being discussed and I'm learning so much as well more than I learned in school that I can actually use on the job. It's so calming to get to hear my thoughts being spoken and to know I'm not alone. Thank you, school for school counselors. You're amazing. Thank you so much, my friend, for that kind and sweet review. I appreciate it more than you know, especially considering somebody showed up this week and gave us a two star review With absolutely no explanation. Those things never cease to amaze me. You know, i don't mind getting a one, two or three star review if people will take the time to let me know what they didn't like, right? So this is your chance. If you guys want to submit a review for the podcast. We'd love to see what you think And I promise we're open to some constructive feedback, but we really want to make sure that we're serving you and that we're serving you well. All right. So back to our topic.

Speaker 1: This week, dbt approaches in schools And I will tell you, this one was a doozy. I have an entire Google folder full of resources that I pulled. I'm going to be citing all of those resources in the show notes. So if you want to go pull any of those papers and see if they are genuine, you can go pull them and see all the information for yourself. We know mental health supports in schools are desperately needed, right, that's why we do what we do each and every day, and these DBT approaches are really going to help in addressing some of your most challenging student needs.

Speaker 1: 70% of public schools reported an increase in the percentage of their students seeking mental health services at school since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's according to the National Center for Education Statistics And that came out in May 2022. They went on to say that roughly three quarters of schools also reported an increase in staff voicing concerns about students exhibiting symptoms such as depression, anxiety and trauma. Now, this is no surprise to us, right? We see this day in and day out as we step on campus to serve students, but it is nice to see it validated in the literature, right, it's nice to know We're not just exaggerating things because we feel overwhelmed. These are legit concerns in our schools.

Speaker 1: Dialectical behavior therapy was designed originally to treat individuals with borderline personality disorder, but since then, have shown a lot of success in addressing other concerns and other challenges such as oh, listen to these, let's see if you have any of these. Do you have any students who have trouble with emotional dysregulation? Right? Yes, we're all raising our hands right now. Dbt excels in this area. Those who struggle with intense or unpredictable emotions get the tools that they need to regulate and manage those emotions effectively. So they're going to start showing some better emotional stability, a greater sense of well-being, and a study published very recently showed an increase of externalizing behaviors for students in tandem with the decrease in adaptive behaviors since COVID. So that's telling us we have a need for these approaches addressing emotional dysregulation And, again, no surprise to you, but it's nice to hear it validated right? Do you have students who tend towards self-harm or perhaps some suicidal tendencies? DBT can help here, although we know if this is a significant concern, we need to be referring students out, right, but we can also follow up in conjunction by helping with some DBT-focused skills in addressing distress, tolerance and emotion regulation, again, so that they develop those coping strategies and better ways of managing their emotional pain.

Speaker 1: Third, dbt can help students who experience extensive relationship difficulties. Right, the kids that just never can seem to get along with everybody else, who always seem to be stirring the drama pot. You know what I'm talking about, right? DBT teaches communication techniques, it teaches assertiveness and boundary setting, and it helps students establish and maintain healthier relationships. All right, so we're three for three here, right, with our dysregulated students, our students showing NSSI and SI, and then students who are showing interpersonal conflict. All three categories of students are going to benefit from DBT approaches. But wait, there's more. What about students who exhibit impulsive behaviors, bench eating, reckless behaviors, hyperactivity? DBT is going to give them the tools that they need to be able to pause, evaluate consequences and make more mindful choices. And also it's going to help students with anxiety and depression. Now, dbt is not specifically designed to treat anxiety or depression, but it does emphasize emotional regulation and mindfulness, and we know that those can be beneficial in managing the symptoms related to anxiety and depression. So if these kiddos can become more aware of their thoughts and more aware of their emotions, dbt is going to really help enhance their overall sense of well-being and reduce all of those symptoms.

Speaker 1: Dbt is cognitive behavioral therapy in a way, but it's a little bit different because it includes components of dialectical philosophy and mindfulness. So let me give you some examples of dialectical thinking, just so you kind of know what we're talking about. Dialectical thinking could be something like I'm doing the best I can and I can do better. Right, two thoughts that seem to be in opposition with each other but actually can both be true at the same time. Here's another one. I'm tough but I'm gentle. You see where we're going with this dialectical thinking. Let me give you one more. I didn't cause all of my problems and I'm responsible for working on them. We're teaching students how to see all angles of the concern right. We're teaching them that there's no one black or white absolute truth in a situation. So now that you kind of have an overview of DBT and what it can help with these emotionally dysregulated students, students showing self-harm tendencies, interpersonal conflicts, impulsive behaviors, anxiety and depression, let's talk about the pros and cons of introducing this approach in the school setting.

Speaker 1: When we incorporate DBT in the school setting, we're giving kids the essential life skills that they need for success. We are giving them an understanding of emotional regulation. We're giving them tools for that. We're giving them tools for self-management. We're improving their interpersonal effectiveness, their communication skills.

Speaker 1: When we utilize DBT in schools, we are focusing on kind of four key categories. The first is mindfulness. We're giving mindfulness exercises and techniques so that students can cultivate self-awareness. They can really hone their focus in the classroom, right, and I bet you probably already teach a lot of mindfulness in your day already, don't you? Second, we are providing students with emotional regulation strategies. We're teaching them how to identify their emotions, how to label them. Sure, it's no surprise to you that students have a really hard time with that a lot of times, and it can be for various reasons. But it never fails to amaze me How many students I run across that cannot accurately label their own emotions. And you can't manage those if you don't know what they are Right. And again, i bet that's something that you spend a lot of time teaching in your current role.

Speaker 1: Third, dbt provides distress tolerance tools. So we're talking about things like grounding exercises, self soothing techniques, coping strategies, things that students can use during challenging situations. And fourth, we're providing interpersonal effectiveness. We are helping them to enhance their communication skills so that they can better communicate, especially when they're distressed. We're also teaching assertiveness skills and how to be appropriately assertive in situations and how to set boundaries with other people And, more importantly, how to set boundaries with others without angering them. You know, because students seem to default to either just really making people mad on purpose or shying away from the conversation at all, because they're terrified of making others angry. We're gonna teach them how to set those boundaries without the concerns, so then they're able to have more confidence, they're gonna have healthier connections and they're gonna have better relationships overall, and at the end of the day, that's one of our key goals in school counseling right Now.

Speaker 1: These amazing benefits are not without their challenges, of course, and so time for sure, raise your hand if you have time issues in your school counseling program. We all do right. But sometimes it makes it challenging to really fully implement DBT, because you've got to be regular with sessions, you've got to be pretty structured with them, and so finding ways to fit those into the school schedule sometimes can be really challenging, but can be done. Where there's a will, there's a way right. Sometimes you just got to get super creative with it.

Speaker 1: The second thing to keep in mind is that sometimes DBT is not appropriate for all students. Some students may need more help, or they may need a different kind of intervention based on whatever's going on with them. So we need to be flexible with our thinking on this DBT thing. We need to be ready and willing to refer students out when circumstances dictate, But we also want to have these approaches in our hip pocket just in case we need them right, because you and I both know perfect world. We can refer students out for services all day long And parents would act on them and get kiddos involved in those. But sometimes that's not the case, and so we have to come up with the next best thing.

Speaker 1: Another shortfall of DBT is just teaching kids how to generalize the DBT skills to their classroom. You know we practice some of the counseling office. It's really easy to get those down in isolation. It is much more difficult to generalize them and apply them consistently. So this is when collaboration with your teachers is going to be a big deal, when you're going to be creating that supportive school-wide environment that really reinforces these principles to help address student challenges. It's going to have to be great communication, great buy-in with your staff and a lot of follow-up on your end, which kind of really ties back to the time factor in a way, doesn't it? But even though we have these roadblocks in our way, even though we have these challenges on the path. We need to remember that if we plan it carefully, if we keep up with our support efforts and we keep up with collaborating not only with our teachers and staff but with our own sources of consultation, most of these limitations can become a non-issue. We can adapt DBT, we can tailor it to the context of our school so that we can effectively address students' mental health needs.

Speaker 1: Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Right, first, challenge peace out. I'm done. We're going to have to use our own dialectical thinking. Right, this is hard and we can get it done. Our schedule is packed and we're going to find time for this. We just got to make sure we figure out a way And once we do that, the research is showing us that this improved emotional well-being, this improved self-awareness for students, leads to not only better mental health outcomes, but increased student engagement in learning. Once students learn how to resolve conflict, once they learn how to problem solve and reason their way through their challenges, it fosters a more positive school climate And it also reduces disruptive behaviors. Chugani, i hope I said their name right.

Speaker 1: 2022 makes a great point When they say most SEO programs teach skills in isolation, so they're really difficult for students. To generalize, there are some DBT curriculums out there. Dbt steps A is one that's more holistic in its approach to distress And it's shown to be more beneficial, with longer effects, than traditional SEL programs. This DBT steps A curriculum is designed to be a tier one or tier two intervention on campuses, so please don't think because it has therapy in the name, then it can only be used with individual students. Dialectical behavior therapy can encompass all the tiers of your tiered intervention on your campus if you so choose and you determine that that's appropriate. A 2022 study by Day Smith, short and Bader says that, out of seven studies examined, preliminary effectiveness for school based DBT skills groups were shown in six out of the seven programs.

Speaker 1: Sakura 2020 says DBT showed significant improvement in students self efficacy skills and improvements within the area of emotional regulation skills. Their most significant finding was reduced emotional vulnerability for students. They also showed significant increases in trust of others and tolerance of differences, which you know. That's a big deal, right, because that's what helps us navigate this world. When we have differences between us, when we have conflicts with others that don't believe or don't think or don't speak the way that we do, we've got to have a framework for addressing that. Dbt provides that.

Speaker 1: Cats and team 2020 found evidence supporting the implementation of DBT approaches in schools as early as the third grade. Now the bulk of literature that you can pull on DBT addresses adolescence, and I think maybe the reason for that is because dialectical behavior therapy was originally designed for adults. We are just now beginning to see some really good empirical evidence on the side of adolescent DBT And I suspect as time goes on, if the trend continues, we'll start to see some more evidence with the littler ones as well. But cats says let's bring it on down as far as the third grade If we are really mindful of the way we present the material right, the vocabulary that we're using, the cognitive load that we're providing to students. As long as we keep all that in check, we got to be able to be pretty successful with these approaches. Alright. So DBT increased academic performance, improved focus, reduced anxiety, increased resilience, lifelong coping skills, relationship navigation all the things involved with DBT And we are in a prime position to provide that to students in the school setting when it's appropriate. I think this has a huge potential to transform a lot of students' lives. And good news, we are embarking on a no stress summer book study. This summer, beginning here in just a few days, we're going to be studying DBT skills in schools in our Mastermind group. We're going to be coming together each week to walk through this manual. It is actually a curriculum to really learn the ins and outs of DBT, to become educated practitioners, to really critically assess these approaches, to see if they're appropriate for our campuses, if it's something we feel comfortable delivering and determining how we're going to do that and which students are going to benefit from these efforts.

Speaker 1: Now, what's the no stress part of it? For a lot of you, book study doesn't sound unstressful, right, especially with the school you're wrapping up. I know some of you have just finished on the Cusp of Memorial Day. Others of you are getting ready to finish up here in the next couple of weeks. Why in the world would you want to embark on a book study now? Like you know, come on, steph. I need my summer, i need to relax, i need to rejuvenate myself. I don't want to be thinking about school counseling And, trust me, we've heard that from some folks in our school for school counselors world, but we've also heard so many more people saying I want to use this time to get better. I want to use this time to learn how to really effectively serve my students so that when fall comes, i am ready. I want to be ready And, guys, this book study is going to get you ready.

Speaker 1: I could go on and on about this, but basically, the format of our book study probably a little bit different than other book studies you've attended. We do not mandate that you read anything, which is kind of interesting for a book study, but the point is being low to no stress. So we do have a reading schedule and probably 95% of our participants do read along in the text with us as we go through. We create a living document with all of our notes, our thoughts, our concerns, our wanderings, whatever it is that's going on, so that we have an accurate record of what we've approached in this book study and also some things that we want to go back and do a little bit deeper research on. I'm going to be supplementing this book with a lot of outside literature, a lot of peer reviewed research. It's going to be a really, really interesting time And we're going to learn so so much.

Speaker 1: So think deep, dive into the book while still maintaining a stress-free experience. It's a balance that's hard to manage, but I promise you we do it. We've done it the last couple of summers and we've just had a ball every time we've done it. So if you're interested in that, check out schoolforschoolcounselorscom. Slash mastermind. There's still time to jump into the book study. Even if you're listening to this podcast episode.

Speaker 1: After the launch of that No Stress Book Study, which will be May 30th We'll be starting on that, you can still hop in. Y'all, this is no stress. The point of this is we want you to learn, we want to study and grow together and we want to figure out how to effectively help our students succeed. That's what it's all about, right, all right. So you enjoyed this rundown of dialectical behavior therapy in schools. I hope it helped expand your recognition of some approaches that might be useful on your campus. And go pick up a copy of the book, whether or not you participate in our book study or not. Go pick it up, go give it a read through and see what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts. On a side note before I leave, if you're listening to this podcast. The Date of Erring.

Speaker 1: I want to wish you a happy Memorial Day. Memorial Day is so important in our family, as we are a military family. My husband is a United States military veteran, and Memorial Day hits close to us because you just never know if your family is going to be one of the ones. So thank you to all of our US service members for their sacrifices. Thank you to the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and take a minute today, on Memorial Day or any day after, offer up a prayer to those families who have lost a member of their family in service. It's the ultimate sacrifice for our country and it's a big deal, so thank you. Thank you very much. All right, until I see you for our next episode, i hope you have the best week, whether you are wrapping up your school year or starting your summer off. Go pick up a copy of your dialectical behavior therapy book and come join us in the mastermind. We'd love to see you there. All right, y'all, have a great week, take care.