Authors Archive

(L)inked – the force of connection and belonging

I have always admired the art of tattoos, and the historical significance they hold in many communities. We can see how the recent fame of Quannah Chasinghorse, who is Hän Gwich’in and Oglala Lakota, has given space to speak to the cultural reclamation of tattooing, and we can also see how the wider cultural uptake […]

Discovering Overcontrol: a client’s story

When I first read the RO-DBT manual, I was blown away. In a sense, I felt comforted, knowing that I was not the only one who struggled with OC (overcontrol) tendencies. I remember reading descriptions of individuals who could benefit from the treatment, and I recall thinking, “Oh my god, that’s me!” Everything made more […]

What your handwriting says about you: receiving feedback in RO DBT skills class

Last fall, I was lucky and privileged enough to participate in an RO-DBT skills class. When I think about the class, a lot of memories come to mind. However, the first one that pops up involves my instructors leading us through one of the exercises from the RO-DBT skills training manual. That day, we were […]

An OC client’s peace of mind: color-coded highlighting and sticky notes

“What does RO-DBT stand for?” I asked, my ears perking up. Of course, I needed to know what the acronym stood for, immediately. After all, it was my common practice that whenever I heard a word I didn’t understand, I just had to learn its definition as soon as possible, even if it meant excusing […]

Just a Minute!

If anyone did a digital autopsy of me, they would discover that I enjoy watching some pretty mindless stuff, mostly as part of my self care plan around daily humour (think of it as Vitamin V – as in VARIEs). But what they would also discover is my love affair with reading articles about “efficiency” […]

It’s lonely at the top

So, I’ve been thinking about the ways that I may treat myself as special or different from other people. In RO DBT, we sometimes call this the enigma predicament, i.e., “I am not like other people” (see Lynch 2018, pg. 318 of the RO DBT Textbook and the webinar ‘The Enigma Predicament’, Level 2 of […]

Moving to the country, going to meet a lot of people…

I have lived in some pretty small and/or remote places in my adult life. I did a couple of seasons at Lake Agnes Tea House in Lake Louise, Alberta, hauling water from a pristine glacier fed lake, having my groceries delivered via horseback, and navigating evenings with candles and headlamps. One year, I was tasked […]

Judgy Face

Lesson 14 in RO-DBT mindfulness teaches awareness of harsh judgments and encourages us to notice our judgmental social signal towards self and others. It asks questions like, “How do I express my harsh judgmental thoughts about others? For example, do I exhibit a flat face, scowl, look away, laugh or chuckle, seek agreement from others, […]

Rules!

If you are a RO therapist or client, you will know that the therapy introduces 5 Behavioural Themes in individual sessions. The 5 themes are: Inhibited Emotional Expression Overly Cautious and Hyper-Vigilant Rigid and Rule Governed Behaviour Aloof and Distant Relationships Envy and Bitterness The purpose of introducing these themes is to gather social signalling […]

Kindness First and Foremost

I have been giving some extra thoughts these days to Lesson 17 from the Skills Manual. As I reflected in my last blog, British Columbia has a provincial health officer whose motto is “Be kind, be calm, be safe.” Everyone in my province has been reminded of this daily though COVID updates, but also through […]

Say Goodbye to Paper Diary Cards for RO DBT

Whether you are new to Radically Open DBT (RO DBT), in the middle of therapy, or you’ve been through the whole program, you know that diary cards are an essential part of RO DBT. They help track our behavior targets, including social signaling. One of the challenging parts of diary cards is that paper copies […]

Compulsive Striving in a time of COVID

Well, as it turns out, I have a super fan of my blog postings! Her name is Judy, and yes, she is my mom (Hi mom!). She mentioned in passing that she had not seen a blog post in a while on this site. I told her that since the pandemic hit the globe, not […]