Individual Therapy · New York

DBT Therapy in New York for Emotions That Move Faster Than You Can Think

DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy — is built for people whose emotions arrive fast and land hard. It teaches four sets of concrete skills: emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness. Not insight about why you react the way you do, but something to actually do in the moment when it counts.

At Peace Love Wellness, DBT skills are taught and practiced inside individual therapy, chosen for what you are actually struggling with rather than worked through as a fixed curriculum. Because our work is relational and trauma-informed first, the skills come paired with understanding why the pattern formed — so practicing them does not feel like being told to try harder at something you have already failed at.

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You may be here because

  • The feeling arrives before the thought does, and by the time you can think clearly the damage is already done
  • You understand your patterns well and still have no idea what to actually do in the ten seconds when it counts
  • You go from fine to flooded with almost nothing in between, and then spend hours recovering from it
  • You either say nothing at all or say far too much, and you cannot find the version in the middle
  • Someone suggested DBT to you and you want to know what it involves before you commit to anything

DBT skills were originally developed for people in serious distress, but the skills themselves are not only for crisis. A great many people who would never describe themselves as in crisis find them the most immediately useful thing therapy has given them.

What DBT skills work can help with

  • Emotion regulation — noticing an emotion earlier, and having something to do about it before it peaks
  • Distress tolerance — getting through an unbearable stretch without making it worse
  • Interpersonal effectiveness — asking for something, or saying no, without abandoning yourself or the relationship
  • Mindfulness — enough distance from a feeling to have a choice about it
  • The dialectic itself — holding "I am doing my best" and "I need to change this" at the same time, rather than swinging between them
  • Reducing the recovery time after a flood, not only the frequency of it

The four skills DBT actually teaches

Distress tolerance is the one most people need first, because it is load-bearing. It is the set of skills for getting through the worst twenty minutes without doing something that costs you more later — and it works on the body, not on reasoning, because reasoning is exactly what is unavailable at that moment.

Emotion regulation works earlier in the sequence: recognizing an emotion while it is still small enough to influence, understanding what it is asking for, and changing the conditions that keep producing it. Interpersonal effectiveness is the most immediately practical — scripts and structures for asking, refusing, and holding a position without either collapsing or scorching the relationship.

Mindfulness underpins all three. Not meditation for its own sake, but the specific capacity to notice what you are feeling while you are feeling it, which is the gap in which every other skill becomes possible.

Read about our approach

How we teach the skills

We start where the pressure is. If you are barely getting through your evenings, distress tolerance comes first and everything else waits. If the problem is that every conversation with your mother ends the same way, we start with interpersonal effectiveness and build the script.

Skills get practiced between sessions and reviewed in them — what you tried, where it worked, where it fell apart. The skill that fails tells us more than the one that works, because it usually shows what the pattern is protecting.

Skills and understanding, not one or the other

Skills-only work can feel mechanical, and insight-only work can leave you articulate and still flooded. Pairing them is the point: you learn what to do at the moment of escalation, and you also learn why your system escalates there in the first place.

That combination is also what makes the skills stick. A technique you understand the purpose of survives a bad week; one you were simply handed usually does not.

Trauma-informed therapy

Who offers DBT here

Cameron Eshgh, LMHC-D, the practice founder, is DBT-trained and brings DBT skills into individual therapy alongside relational and trauma-informed work. He is currently full and accepting waitlist requests.

Clark Sun, LCAT, also works with DBT-informed skill-building, alongside creative arts therapy, somatic and attachment-informed approaches, and mindfulness and values-based practices. Clark is accepting new clients, so DBT skills work is available now.

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Interested in a DBT skills group?

DBT skills are often taught in a group, and there is something a group gives you that individual work cannot — practicing in front of other people who are working on the same thing.

A group is not currently meeting, and we are gathering interest in forming one. If you would like to be contacted when a group starts, mention "DBT group" when you reach out and we will add you to the list.

Register your interest

Online across New York

Skills work adapts well to telehealth — arguably better than most therapy, since you are practicing in the environment where you will actually use the skills rather than in an office you then have to leave.

Sessions are held on a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform for clients located in New York.

Learn more about online therapy

Insurance-friendly care

DBT skills work within individual therapy is billed as psychotherapy, so if your plan covers therapy with us it covers this work. We commonly work with Aetna, Cigna, United HealthCare, Anthem, NYSHIP, MagnaCare, Carelon, and other plans. Coverage varies by plan and clinician, and we help clarify options before you begin.

Insurance & Fees

Related reading

Writing from the Peace Love Wellness blog on the specific situations DBT skills tend to be aimed at.

How to Set Boundaries When You're Terrified of Conflict

Interpersonal effectiveness is the DBT module for exactly this — asking or refusing without abandoning yourself or the relationship.

Read more

Why Do I Shut Down During Conflict?

Shutdown is a regulation strategy, not a character flaw. What it protects, and what changes when you can catch it earlier.

Read more

Why Your Body Won't Let You Relax (Even When You're Exhausted)

Distress tolerance starts with the body. Why rest can feel unavailable even when you finally have time for it.

Read more

Not sure which therapist is the right fit?

You do not need to choose alone. Share what you're looking for, your insurance, your availability, and any preferences that matter to you. We'll help guide you toward a clinician whose style, focus, and current openings fit your needs.

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Confidential & HIPAA-compliant

DBT therapy FAQ

Questions we often hear from people looking for DBT at Peace Love Wellness.

What is DBT?

DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy — is a skills-based therapy developed by Marsha Linehan. It teaches four sets of skills: distress tolerance for getting through acute distress without making it worse, emotion regulation for influencing emotions earlier in their arc, interpersonal effectiveness for asking and refusing without damaging relationships, and mindfulness for noticing what you feel while you feel it. The "dialectical" part is the stance that you can be doing your best and still need to change something.

What does DBT therapy look like at Peace Love Wellness?

DBT skills are taught and practiced within individual therapy, selected for what you are actually struggling with rather than worked through as a fixed curriculum. We usually start wherever the pressure is highest, practice between sessions, and review what worked and what fell apart. Because our approach is relational and trauma-informed, skills are paired with understanding why the pattern formed in the first place.

Do you offer a DBT skills group?

Not as a currently meeting group — we are gathering interest in forming one. DBT skills are often taught in a group format, and if enough people want it, that is how a group starts. Mention "DBT group" when you reach out and we will add you to the list to be contacted when one forms. In the meantime, skills are taught and practiced within individual sessions.

Is DBT only for borderline personality disorder?

No, though that is where it was developed and where the evidence is strongest. The four skills modules are useful for a much wider range of people, including many who would not describe themselves as being in crisis at all — anyone whose emotions escalate faster than they can think, who struggles to ask for things directly, or who loses hours to recovering from a flood.

Can I do DBT skills work alongside trauma therapy?

Often yes, and the combination tends to work well. Skills that increase distress tolerance and emotion regulation frequently make trauma work more tolerable, which is one reason we may start there. All therapy at Peace Love Wellness is relational and trauma-informed regardless of which skills are in play.

Do you offer a comprehensive DBT program?

Comprehensive DBT combines individual therapy with a weekly skills group, between-session coaching, and a therapist consultation team, and it has the strongest evidence for borderline personality disorder, chronic suicidality, and self-harm. We offer DBT skills within individual therapy rather than that full program. If comprehensive DBT is what you need, tell us and we will help you find a program that runs it.

Does insurance cover DBT therapy in New York?

Generally yes, because DBT skills work within individual therapy is billed as psychotherapy rather than as a separate service. We commonly work with Aetna, Cigna, United HealthCare, Anthem, NYSHIP, MagnaCare, Carelon, and other plans. Coverage varies by plan and clinician, and we help clarify your options before you begin.

If the feeling keeps arriving before the thought does

Tell us what happens and how fast it happens, and we will help you find the clinician and the skills that fit. Skills work is available now with a clinician taking new clients.

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