Bring Skills Into the Moment
Understand how between-session DBT support may fit within your treatment plan.
Understanding Your Experience
The space between appointments matters
A difficult moment rarely waits for a scheduled therapy session. You may understand a skill in conversation and find it harder to remember when emotions rise. In a DBT treatment arrangement, phone coaching can support the use of skills between sessions. It is a clinical component of care, not a separate life-coaching service. Whether it is included, and how it works, must be agreed with your treating clinician.
Making Space for Change
Support for applying what you are learning
The clinic’s existing description of DBT phone coaching centers on using skills in a current situation. For example, the conversation may concern recognizing an urge or choosing a skill you have already discussed. The details depend on your treatment agreement. Phone coaching is not a substitute for a full session, and a website cannot establish an individual safety plan or tell you which response is clinically appropriate.
Care in Context
Know the boundaries before you need them
Ask your clinician which contact method to use, when support is available, what kinds of questions it covers and what to do if they cannot respond. Those details should not be guessed from a general clinic description. Keep the agreed instructions somewhere you can find them. This website does not promise round-the-clock clinician access, a response time or monitoring of email, text messages or website inquiries.
Questions Worth Exploring
Separate a skills question from urgent help
Discuss emergency arrangements as part of your care, including what support is available when your clinician is unavailable. The general inquiry channels on this website are not emergency services. If there is immediate danger, call 911 or go to an emergency department. For a crisis, call or text 988. A treating clinician can help you understand how their own between-session arrangements relate to broader crisis resources.
Room for Questions
What you might be wondering
Clear information belongs in the conversation, too.
01Is this the same as life coaching?
No. Here, phone coaching refers to a component of clinical DBT treatment. The practice intake does not list a separate life-coaching offer, and this page should not be read as advertising one.
02Is phone coaching included with every therapist?
Do not assume that it is. The clinic distinguishes comprehensive DBT from DBT-informed services. Confirm the current arrangement directly with the clinician responsible for your care.
03Can I use the website to request urgent support?
No. General website contact and email are not emergency channels. Use emergency or crisis services when urgent assistance is needed.
04What should I clarify before beginning?
Ask about the purpose, availability, contact method, cost if any, and alternatives when the clinician is unavailable. Your individual treatment agreement should answer these questions clearly.
A Closer Look
Explore a more specific question.
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Find the information you need
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Contact
Reach the Portland practice with general questions about care and availability.
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Your Next Chapter
Clarify support between appointments.
Discuss the purpose, contact method and boundaries of DBT phone coaching with your treating clinician.
Contact the Clinic