Dialectical Living

My daughter melted down this morning and I had more compassion for her than ever before because of what I learned in the family group. The Compassion in Chaos sessions are very supportive for myself and my partner. They help us to understand our daughters struggles and are teaching us skills and strategies to manage. We kept getting angry and frustrated and now we understand the underlying physiology of BPD and the pain and suffering that she feels on a daily basis. We learned how to validate her and this has worked! We can deescalate her and this has made a world of difference in our home. Thank you Julie for making our lives more manageable.

Dialectical Living brought me out of a very dark and hopeless place and helped build me into a functioning member of society again. I am able to control my reactions and my emotions with the skills I have learned. The facilitators are very insightful and were able to provide me with the coaching I needed when I was in crisis. I have better relationships with my friends and family and am able to keep a job finally. Thank you Julie, Elizabeth and others for all the work you have put into making this experience so meaningful for me. Keep doing what you do! Forever grateful!

Dialectical living has been extremely helpful for me. I found that my life completely changed for the better and I am now able to lead life more peacefully using my DBT skills. As a manager I am more effective now in the workplace dealing with colleagues has been so much better than before as I am more accepting of people and more compassionate and less reactive I've taken both the intro and advanced programs twice and each time learn new things. I absolutely recommend dialectical living.

Dialectical Living is a DBT informed, mindfulness based, and skills learning support group for individuals who struggle with emotion regulation. I am exactly that person and have highly benefited from this fantastic group- learning experience.
After a recent diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (AKA Emotional Regulation Disorder-ERD) I searched far and wide to find a treatment group for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). After speaking to Julie Hayden for three minutes on the phone, I knew I had found THE BEST PLACE to learn about myself and DBT. This is a peer-run group in which all the knowledgeable facilitators had the same diagnosis as I, and they all understood me and what I was going through. The facilitators are social workers. psychologists mental health nurses and peer support workers, and it is their personal strengths that make this course what it is! They really care about each and every client as an individual, and were always eager to listen to our perspectives of how we dealt with our problems. More importantly, the facilitators were compassionate and patient when they taught the DBT skills over the course of the informative sessions. This is a great learning environment for newbies and repeat clients who want to sharpen their skills. I intend to repeat this course and then move on to the advanced course. There is a lot to learn and the life skills were all new to me, so I feel, that at my age, (62) I want to soak it all up. The course targets all ages, so the sooner th3e patient/client starts, the sooner the skills are incorporated into their lives.Many portions of the course are broken down to digestible parts and discussed at length. There's always time to ask questions and to share how we reflect on our own experiences. I feel their personal touch goes a long way to make clients extremely comfortable in this informal setting. The facilitators are very sympathetic and empathic because they have lived a similar life to mine and understand my dilemmas and concerns. This group helped me understand the dynamics of my lifetime and how to utilize the new skills I learned here. I am forever grateful for the care and compassion shown to the participants in this DBT group and will move forward fully aware that I can do better now that I know better! Many thanks to this program and the professional care offered.