Serving clients in georgia & all PsyPact States
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in Alpharetta & Online Across GA
Build skills to stay in control, cultivate stronger relationships, & live a life that feels worth living.
Feeling overwhelmed doesn’t mean you’re beyond help.
You try your best to remain calm and in control. These days, though, your emotions can shift so quickly and intensely that you’re often left in the aftermath, wondering why you reacted the way you did. Some days you feel flooded and overwhelmed, and other days you completely shut down and check out because it all becomes too much.
And when there’s any sign of tension, misunderstanding, or conflict in your relationships, you find yourself jumping to conclusions, then feeling ashamed and frustrated with yourself—all while trying to act like everything’s fine on the outside.
Maybe a therapist, psychiatrist, or someone close to you suggested DBT as a way to have more structure, skills, and support than talk therapy alone can offer.
DBT may be a good fit for you if you struggle with…
Intense emotions that feel hard to control, leading to reactions that happen faster than you can stop them.
Impulsive behaviors, urges to self-harm, suicidal ideation, or moments when you feel overwhelmed and don’t know how to bring yourself back down.
Repeating relationship patterns where you fear being abandoned, get attached quickly, or go from idealizing someone to feeling hurt or angry in an instant.
The need to over-control and keep up appearances that everything’s together while feeling lonely, shut down, or disconnected inside.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), whether you’ve been formally diagnosed or have just been wondering yourself whether your emotional patterns fit what you’ve heard about BPD.
Episodes of deep depression, panic, or mood swings—including those related to Bipolar Disorder—that make it hard to function or feel stable in daily life.
Your emotions don’t have to control you anymore.
You deserve support that teaches you how to find calm and build the life you want.
How we can help
A thoughtful, clear process designed to help you find stability and direction.
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DBT is a skills-based treatment approach that helps you respond with a grounded mindset to the moments in life that feel difficult to manage. Instead of simply talking through what happened each week, DBT gives you tools you can use in real time to steady yourself, respond differently, and act in a way that’s aligned with your values.
We also offer Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT), which is especially helpful for people who tend to keep their emotions tightly contained, feel disconnected from others, or struggle with perfectionism and rigidity. During your intake, we’ll help you determine whether standard DBT or RO-DBT is the best fit.
This approach is structured, but it’s never rigid. Your therapist will adapt the process to your needs, meet you with honesty and compassion, and make sure you feel supported each step of the way as you build a life that feels more grounded, meaningful, and truly worth living.
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You’re welcome to complete the intake documents beforehand, but if that feels like too much for your bandwidth right now, we can walk through them together. Here, you can talk openly about thoughts of suicide or self-harm and trust that this is a safe, nonjudgmental space. Your therapist will ask questions to understand your goals, and by the end of that first appointment, you’ll receive verbal recommendations about what next steps might be most helpful.
If DBT seems like a good fit, we’ll move into a brief assessment period where you learn what DBT involves and we learn what support you need. This pre-treatment stage typically lasts one to eight sessions and gives you the space to decide whether you want to commit to DBT. You won’t begin the formal program until you feel ready and agree that it’s the right path.
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Stage 1 of DBT centers on strengthening your ability to cope in the present moment—especially when thoughts about the past or fears about the future make it hard to stay grounded. You’ll learn practical skills you can start using right away. Your therapist will work with you each week to understand what got in the way of using skills, where you felt stuck, and what you want to build toward.
And if medication might be helpful, we can collaborate with a prescriber, but we’ll never push medication on you if you’re not interested.
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These group meetings are held in a supportive, classroom-style environment where you learn and practice skills for mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and relationship effectiveness. In your individual sessions, your therapist will tailor these skills to your specific needs and help you use them when they matter most.
We also offer coaching between sessions—meaning you can call or text your therapist when you’re struggling and need guidance on which skill to use. This helps you build confidence and momentum outside the therapy room, where change actually happens.
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This might include trauma-focused work or addressing longer-standing patterns that get in the way of the life you want. There’s no pressure to move into these stages (such as DBT Prolonged Exposure) unless it feels right—many people complete Stage 1 and feel ready to move forward on their own, one moment at a time.
DBT can help you…
Slow down and notice your emotions and reactions so you can make choices that align with your values.
Instead of getting swept up in a feeling and acting before you realize what’s happening, you’ll learn how to recognize the early signs—tightness in your chest, a sharp thought, a familiar urge—and pause long enough to choose a different response. Over time, you become someone who can move through tough moments without losing yourself in them.
Ride out urges and impulses using skills that actually work in the moment.
DBT teaches you what to do when you feel like you’re about to say something you’ll regret, reach for something to numb out, or act on an urge that could make things worse. You’ll learn concrete skills that help you tolerate those moments and bring the intensity down so you can stay safe and grounded. Many clients say this is the first time they’ve had tools that actually work outside the therapy room.
Repair conflict and communicate in ways that strengthen your relationships.
Whether you tend to shut down, lash out, or panic when something feels off, DBT gives you a roadmap for expressing your needs while honoring the relationship. You’ll practice how to have hard conversations, ask for what you want, set boundaries, and follow through in ways that feel respectful to both you and the other person.
Build a life that feels meaningful, intentional, and genuinely worth living.
Identify what matters most to you—your values, goals, and the kind of life you want to move toward. Once those become clearer, therapy shifts toward helping you take small, doable steps in that direction. Many people finish DBT feeling more hopeful, more capable, and more connected to a future they want to show up for.
You’re more than your worst moments.
With the right support, a life you want to live is within reach.
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FAQs
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DBT is a structured, skills-based therapy designed for people who feel emotions very intensely or have trouble coping in the moment. Instead of only talking about problems, you learn practical tools for managing urges, handling conflict, and staying grounded when things feel overwhelming. We’ll teach you the skills step-by-step and help you practice them in real life so you can start seeing changes sooner rather than later.
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DBT is designed for people who feel emotions intensely and need practical tools to handle moments when everything feels “too much.” It can help with self-harm urges, suicidal thoughts, overwhelming anxiety or panic, impulsive behaviors, frequent conflict, and the emotional swings that make daily life hard to manage. DBT is considered an effective approach for people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Bipolar Disorder, and can help improve relationships if you tend to shut down, over-control, or struggle to connect with others. Whatever your specific challenges are, we’ll help you use DBT skills to create a life that feels worth living.
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Yes, Stage 2 of DBT, called DBT-PE (Prolonged Exposure) is for treating trauma and PTSD. Dr. Kirsten Moore is Intensively-trained in providing DBT-PE and would be glad to tell you more about it. First, clients learn coping skills in Stage 1 of DBT and then during or after Stage 1, move on to Stage 2 if treating PTSD is your top goal.
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RO-DBT is a form of DBT created for people who struggle with “overcontrol”—meaning you hold everything together on the outside but feel shut down, lonely, rigid, or cut off on the inside. It focuses on flexibility, openness, and connection. If this sounds like you, we can talk through whether RO-DBT or standard DBT is the better fit.
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In DBT, most people participate in a weekly skills class where you learn tools for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and relationship effectiveness. It’s more like a class than a group therapy circle—there’s teaching, practice, and guidance, but no pressure to share personal details. We’ll recommend whether a group is needed based on your goals and what we learn during your intake.
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You can call or text your therapist when you’re overwhelmed or need help using a skill, and they’ll guide you through what to do next. It’s included in the cost of treatment, and it’s one of the reasons DBT with us is so effective.
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Yes—DBT can be very effective for young people who have intense emotions, impulsive behaviors, self-harm, or difficulty with relationships. We adapt the skills so they’re age-appropriate and may involve caregivers when helpful. If you’re seeking DBT for your child or teen, you can learn more about that process on our Children & Teens page.
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DBT may not be a match if someone isn’t willing to engage in the treatment plan, isn’t open to learning skills, or cannot follow the structure due to active psychosis or significant cognitive limitations. We’ll always be honest about fit and help you find the right type of care if DBT isn’t it—our goal is to get you the support that truly works.