Why DBT Skills in Schools Matter

A preventative, evidence-based approach to building emotional wellness.

Today’s teens face more emotional challenges than ever — and our current systems often wait until crisis to offer support. DBT STEPS-A gives schools a proactive tool for teaching emotional regulation, decision-making, and interpersonal skills in the classroom.

Why DBT STEPS-A

What if we could reduce…

  • school discipline issues

  • drug and alcohol use

  • risky sexual behavior

  • bullying victimization and prepetration

  • school dropout rate

  • school placement to alternative school school settings

  • self-harming behavior

  • suicidal ideation

And improve…

  • schoolwide academic performance via GPA

  • school graduation rate

  • school attendance rate

  • school climate

  • emotion regulation and decision-making abilities

Social Emotional Learning provides the necessary skills for helping students reach their full education potential by teaching coping strategies and decision-making skills that focus on the mental well-being of students.

DBT STEPS-A is a unique SEL curriculum that offers an upstream universal approach for teaching emotion regulation skills and coping strategies designed for middle and high adolescents (ages 12-19 years-old). The curriculum is structured within an Multitiered Systems of Support framework and provides manualized lessons and student handouts for ease of administration and implementation by a general education teacher/instructor. The skills of the DBT STEPS-A curriculum are evidence-based and divided into four main modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness which align with the five CASEL competencies.

Dr. Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP

“The authors have found an ingenious way of expanding the reach and implementation of DBT skills to the universal population of adolescents in educational settings.”

DBT STEPS-A Manual: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents

The DBT STEPS-A manual is the first classroom-ready curriculum to adapt Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills for general education settings. Designed for students in grades 6–12, it includes 30 structured lessons that teach mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

The manual provides everything educators need to implement the program, including 99 reproducible handouts, a diary card, and three student assessments. A full downloadable PDF is included for easy printing, and the lay-flat format supports classroom use.