DBT Therapy in Tampa, St. Petersburg & Sarasota
Struggling with overwhelming emotions, relationship conflict, or impulsive behaviors? Our DBT therapists in Tampa, Sarasota & St. Petersburg help adults and teens build emotional resilience, improve relationships, and gain control through evidence-based skills.
What Is DBT Therapy & How It Can Support Adults and Teens in Tampa, St. Petersburg & Sarasota
how does dbt work (including dbt-a) & What does dbt stand for?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is an evidence-based mental health treatment that combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness, validation, and emotional regulation strategies. DBT is designed to help people who experience intense emotions learn how to manage distress, improve relationships, and create their desired life.
What Does DBT Treat?
At It Begins Within we offer comprehensive DBT therapy treatment for adults and DBT-A therapy for adolescents. Common concerns DBT therapy is effective for include:
Self-Harm & Suicidal Ideation – Teaches healthy alternatives for coping and reduces crisis behaviors.
Depression – Especially when unresponsive to traditional talk therapy.
Anxiety Disorders – Helps reduce emotional reactivity and anxious thought loops.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Incorporates acceptance-based strategies and emotional regulation.
Impulsivity & Risky Behavior – Builds mindful awareness and reduces destructive habits.
Emotional Dysregulation – Develops inner balance and self-control.
Relationship Challenges – Improves communication, boundaries, and trust.
Self-Harm & Suicidal Ideation – Teaches healthy alternatives for coping and reduces crisis behaviors.
Borderline Personality Disorder – Gold standard treatment for improving mood stability, reducing self-harm, and building stronger relationships.
Our DBT Therapists in Tampa, St. Petersburg & Sarasota
Roberta Bruni, LCSW - St. Petersburg
Roberta is a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist (C-DBT) with more than 25 years of experience helping adults, couples, and families. She uses DBT to help clients facing trauma, addiction, and intense emotions build stability, tolerate distress, and stop repeating patterns that keep them stuck.
Liza Prochnow, LCSW · Sarasota
Liza uses DBT alongside CBT to help Sarasota adults manage the anxiety, overwhelm, and people pleasing that come with holding everything together. Her work builds emotion regulation and distress tolerance so clients can set boundaries and respond to stress with steadiness instead of self-criticism.
Andreas Balasis, LCSW - St. Petersburg
Andreas brings intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy to his work with high-performing adults and teens in St. Petersburg. He combines DBT skills with ACT to help clients manage anxiety, perfectionism, and overwhelm, so pressure stops dictating how they feel and react.
Meghan uses DBT with adolescents and adults in Tampa who struggle with anger, compulsive behaviors, and emotional reactivity. With advanced training in DBT and EMDR, she helps clients replace impulsive reactions with practical skills for regulation, distress tolerance, and healthier relationships.
What Are the 4 Steps of DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is delivered in a strategic, four-stage model designed to help individuals move from crisis and emotional chaos to long-term stability and fulfillment. Each step builds on the last, creating a structured path to healing and personal growth.
The 4 modules of DBT
Stabilization
Focuses on reducing life-threatening behaviors like self-harm, suicidal ideation, or emotional outbursts using distress tolerance and mindfulness skills.
Emotional Processing
Helps you understand and manage painful emotions and past trauma through emotional regulation and acceptance-based techniques.
Skill Integration
Builds healthy relationships, strengthens self-esteem, and enhances daily functioning with interpersonal effectiveness skills.
Life Fulfillment
Supports long-term goals and personal growth—helping you create a life that feels meaningful, purposeful, and emotionally balanced.
The Four Core DBT Skills
DBT is a comprehensive and structured form of therapy that includes several key components designed to help adults and teenagers in manage emotions, cope with distress, and improve relationships. The key aspects of DBT are:
Mindfulness - Anchors you in the present moment to reduce reactivity and emotional overwhelm.
Distress Tolerance - Helps you survive crises without harmful behaviors.
Emotion Regulation - Teaches how to identify, manage, and shift difficult emotions.
Interpersonal Effectiveness - Builds assertiveness, boundary-setting, and communication skills.
How Our DBT Therapists in Tampa, Sarasota & St. Petersburg Help You Heal
We provide flexible and comprehensive DBT therapy treatment options, including:
DBT-A Therapy for Teens
Helps adolescents (ages 13–17) manage mood swings, impulsivity, and social conflict. Parent coaching included.
Individual DBT Therapy
Private sessions to personalize skills and target deep emotional pain.
DBT Skills Training Groups
Structured group sessions to practice and reinforce the four core DBT skills.
Phone Coaching Access
Between-session coaching to help apply DBT skills in the moment.
Online DBT Therapy Across Florida
DBT does not have to wait until you can get to an office. Our therapists offer individual DBT through secure telehealth to adults and teens anywhere in Florida, from Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota to Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. Sessions follow the same structure as in-person DBT, including skills coaching, diary card review, and practice between sessions.
Many of the individuals who benefit most from DBT are adolescents navigating intense emotions, impulsive behavior, or social conflict. At It Begins Within, we offer DBT-A (Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents) as part of our specialized teen therapy services.
This approach is designed to help teens:
Improve emotion regulation and reduce outbursts
Build healthy coping strategies for anxiety, depression, and stress
Strengthen communication skills and peer relationships
Increase confidence, self-awareness, and resilience
Learn more about our Teen Therapy Services or schedule a free consultation
Support for Tweens & Teens Through DBT-A in Tampa, St. Petersburg & Sarasota Florida
Is DBT Right for You?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is not just for individuals in crisis—it's for anyone who feels emotionally stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from their sense of self. Whether you're navigating a mental health diagnosis or simply looking to live more mindfully and intentionally, DBT can provide the tools to help you move forward.
DBT may be a strong fit if you
Struggle with intense emotions or feel emotionally overwhelmed — including sensitivity, reactivity, or difficulty calming down
Experience relationship challenges like conflict, poor boundaries, or fear of abandonment
Have a history of trauma, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts, and want to build safer, more effective coping skills
Feel stuck in anxiety, depression, or chronic stress, especially if talk therapy hasn’t helped in the past
DBT offers more than emotional relief—it’s a structured, skills-based approach for building resilience, self-awareness, and lasting change.
DBT Therapy Offices in Florida
DBT THERAPY ST. PETERSBURG
Our St. Petersburg DBT therapists support adults, teens, and couples across Pinellas County, including Clearwater, Largo, Gulfport, Seminole, Feather Sound, and Treasure Island. Led by Roberta Bruni, a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist, our team helps you build emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and healthier relationships.
DBT THERAPY TAMPA
Located near Westshore and South Tampa, our Tampa DBT therapy office serves teens, adults, and families throughout Hillsborough County, including South Tampa, Hyde Park, Carrollwood, Brandon, Riverview, and Apollo Beach. Led by Meghan Hargaden, LMHC, who has advanced training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, our team helps you manage intense emotions, anger, and impulsive reactions so you can respond to life with more steadiness and control.
DBT THERAPY IN SARASOTA
Our Sarasota office provides dialectical behavior therapy for adults in Lakewood Ranch, Palmer Ranch, Siesta Key, and University Park. Liza Prochnow pairs DBT skills with CBT to help you manage anxiety, overwhelm, and people pleasing, so you can set boundaries and meet stress with calm instead of self-criticism. Online DBT is also available anywhere in Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions About DBT Therapy
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DBT moves through four stages of treatment. Stage 1 focuses on safety and getting dangerous or out-of-control behaviors under control. Stage 2 addresses painful emotions and past experiences, including trauma. Stage 3 works on everyday problems, relationships, and self-respect. Stage 4 builds a lasting sense of meaning and fulfillment. Most clients start where their needs are most urgent, and your therapist adjusts the pace to you.
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The stages describe the arc of treatment. The four skills, which are mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, are the tools you learn and practice at every stage.
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No. DBT was first developed for borderline personality disorder, and it is now used for anxiety, depression, emotional dysregulation, self-harm urges, anger, substance use, and relationship conflict. Many of our clients are high-functioning adults who simply feel their emotions are running the show.
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Both. Adults work on DBT skills individually, and teens and tweens receive DBT for adolescents (DBT-A), which involves parents so that skills carry over at home.
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Many clients notice changes within the first few months as skills become habits. A full cycle of skills training typically takes about six months, and some clients continue longer to strengthen progress. Your therapist will review your goals with you regularly.
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CBT focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. DBT builds on CBT and adds acceptance, mindfulness, and specific skills for managing intense emotions. If your emotions feel too big to think your way out of, DBT is often the better fit.
Schedule Free Consultation for DBT Near Me
Whether you’re seeking DBT-A therapy for a teen, to develop skills for emotional regulation, or a structured program, we’re here to help. We proudly serve clients across Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties.