Applied DBT Skills for Trauma
Advanced training to help clients stabilize and recover after trauma
About the course
Start date
Immediate accessTime
14 hours | 12 months accessWho this course is for
For Mental Health & Heath Professionals, CoachesAccreditation
14 CE / CME CreditsClients with trauma histories often face complex, persistent challenges. Intrusive memories, heightened reactivity, and chronic hyperarousal are common, as are high-risk coping behaviors like self-harm, substance use, or dissociation. While these offer short-term relief, they often lead to long-term suffering. The severity of these difficulties can make therapy feel overwhelming or unsafe - and hard to engage in.
This course provides a clear, practical framework for using DBT skills to support trauma recovery. You’ll learn how to stabilize self‑destructive behaviors, manage distress, help clients regulate trauma‑related emotions, and improve relationships—whether you're preparing clients to begin trauma treatment, delivering it directly, or supporting them afterward. Even without using a formal trauma treatment protocol, you’ll gain practical strategies to reduce the impact of trauma‑related symptoms and emotional intensity.
Taught by Dr. Melanie Harned, developer of DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT PE), this advanced course includes detailed roleplays, targeted interventions, and case-based instruction to help you confidently apply DBT skills to a range of trauma-related problems - regardless of your primary therapeutic approach.
There are 14 CE/CME credits available for this course (see Learner Notification).
Applied DBT Skills for Trauma
Meet Your Course Presenter
Melanie Harned, PhD, ABPP Dr. Harned is the developer of DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT PE) and a leading expert in DBT and trauma treatment. She has spent her career helping high-risk, complex, and difficult-to-treat clients with trauma histories access effective care, and trains clinicians worldwide in the integration of DBT and PTSD treatment.
Featuring Dr. Marsha Linehan and Leading DBT Experts - Founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Dr. Linehan shares key insights into DBT skills, alongside other leading DBT experts who highlight their application with trauma-related problems. See your all your course experts here.
How This Course Helps You in Practice
Understand what maintains trauma-related suffering Learn how to provide clear psychoeducation about trauma responses and the role of avoidance in maintaining distress. Help clients recognise these patterns and build motivation to use the DBT skills that support lasting change.
Stabilize high-risk and trauma-related problems Use DBT skills to target problems such as dissociation, suicidal behaviors, self-harm, and emotion dysregulation - helping clients build safety, tolerate distress, and regulate painful emotions like fear, shame, and anger. Includes the use of crisis survival skills for short-term coping.
Support recovery across all phases of treatment Apply the full range of DBT skills - mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness - before, during, and after trauma-focused treatment to reinforce progress and sustain long-term gains. Learn when DBT skills are essential for stabilization and when clients may be ready to begin trauma processing directly.
Improve relationships and social support Teach clients how to set limits, ask for what they need, build lasting relationships, and increase self-respect in interactions - especially when trauma has made these behaviors feel unsafe or unfamiliar.
Integrate with other trauma therapies to improve outcomes Combine DBT skills with CBT, EMDR, or other evidence-based PTSD treatments to increase client engagement, emotional safety, and overall treatment effectiveness.
Course Format
This self-paced course includes:
13 practical modules focused on applying DBT skills to a range of trauma-related problems
Expert instruction with Dr. Melanie Harned
Detailed therapy roleplays with diverse client presentations
Downloadable resources including worksheets and clinical tools
12 months access to review the material anytime
Is This Course Right for You?
This course is designed for experienced therapists who:
Work with clients struggling with PTSD, trauma, self-destructive behaviors, and/or emotional dysregulation
Want to use DBT skills to stabilize clients and support trauma recovery
Need practical strategies for managing risk, increasing emotional regulation, and strengthening the therapeutic alliance
Value advanced, roleplay-based training grounded in real clinical application
Are looking to integrate DBT skills into CBT, EMDR, or other evidence-based trauma treatments.
What You'll Learn
Course Excerpts
How Your Course Works
Course Presenter
Contributing Course Experts
Frequently asked questions