Professional Training

Engaging, evidence-informed learning that helps professionals translate knowledge into compassionate and effective practice.

Helping professionals are often asked to respond to complex emotional and behavioral needs while working within environments shaped by limited time, competing demands, and systems that do not always make effective care easy. Training should offer more than information. It should help participants understand why an approach matters, see how it applies to their work, and leave with practical strategies they can use.

My trainings are designed to make complex clinical concepts accessible without oversimplifying them. I combine evidence-informed content, real-world experience, experiential learning, reflection, discussion, and practical skill-building to create programs that are both meaningful and applicable.

Who I Train

Professional training is available for:

• Behavioral health clinicians
• Social workers and counselors
• Case managers and care coordinators
• Direct support and residential staff
• Clinical supervisors and program leaders
• Educators and school-based professionals
• Community-based service providers
• State agencies and nonprofit organizations
• Interdisciplinary teams supporting individuals with complex needs

Training content and examples can be adapted to reflect participants’ roles, experience levels, service settings, and the populations they support.

Training Areas

Current and customizable training topics may include:

• Foundations of Dialectical Behavior Therapy
• DBT skills training and group facilitation
• Mindfulness and how to teach mindfulness skills
• Distress tolerance and crisis-survival skills
• Understanding and regulating emotions
• Interpersonal effectiveness
• Validation and levels of validation
• Coaching and reinforcing DBT skills
• Understanding borderline personality disorder through a compassionate and trauma-informed lens
• Supporting individuals who experience severe emotion dysregulation
• Trauma-informed and trauma-responsive care
• Working effectively with suicidal thinking and self-injurious behavior
• Developing sustainable DBT-informed programs
• Supporting provider resilience and addressing compassion fatigue

Additional topics may be developed in collaboration with organizations seeking training tailored to a particular need.

DBT Skills Training for Professionals

A central focus of my professional education is helping clinicians and other providers understand not only DBT skills, but how to teach, model, coach, and reinforce them effectively.

Training may include the foundations and assumptions of DBT, the biosocial theory, skills-training targets and procedures, group planning and structure, participant orientation, mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and the practical challenges of implementing skills training in real-world settings.

My multi-part DBT Skills Training Series provides an in-depth learning experience for professionals who want to develop greater confidence in teaching and facilitating DBT skills. The series combines conceptual understanding, experiential practice, teaching demonstrations, implementation planning, and opportunities for discussion throughout.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, participation in a Lotus & Lion DBT training does not constitute comprehensive DBT training or confer professional DBT certification.

My Approach to Adult Learning

Professionals learn best when they are respected as active participants and given opportunities to connect new information with what they already know. My trainings are interactive and grounded in the realities of clinical, residential, educational, and community-based work.

Depending on the topic and format, participants may engage in:

• Guided discussion and reflection
• Experiential exercises
• Skills practice
• Clinical or workplace examples
• Case-based application
• Small-group activities
• Implementation planning
• Opportunities to ask questions and problem-solve challenges

I aim to create a learning environment in which participants feel comfortable being curious, considering new perspectives, and talking honestly about the complexities of the work.

Experience That Informs the Training

I bring more than 25 years of experience in behavioral health treatment, program leadership, clinical consultation, supervision, and professional education.

Before founding Lotus & Lion, I spent more than 20 years at Open Sky Community Services and ultimately served as Director of DBT and Trauma Services. In that role, I oversaw the implementation of DBT and trauma-informed services across the agency, led consultation teams, supported program development, provided supervision and consultation, and directed the agency’s Trauma Response Team.

I have developed and facilitated trainings for behavioral health agencies, school systems, nonprofit organizations, and the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. I also served as an adjunct instructor at Assumption University, where I taught future behavioral health professionals on topics that included DBT skills training and cultural humility.

I am a DBT-Linehan Board certified clinician and completed intensive DBT training with Dr. Charlie Swenson and advanced intensive training with Dr. Marsha Linehan. My professional training also includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, trauma-focused approaches, and Level One Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher training through the Mindfulness Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health.

Training Formats

Professional education may be offered through:

• Individual workshops
• Multi-part training series
• Continuing-education programs
• Customized organizational training
• Team-based skills development
• Training combined with implementation consultation
• Virtual or in-person learning, depending on the program and location

Trainings may range from focused introductory workshops to more comprehensive programs offered over several sessions. The scope, format, learning objectives, and intended audience are established clearly before the training begins.

Customized Training for Organizations

Organizations may request training designed around the needs of a particular team, program, or service setting. The process begins with a conversation about the organization’s goals, current challenges, audience, and desired outcomes.

Customized training may focus on introducing a new framework, strengthening an existing practice, developing staff confidence, improving consistency across a team, or supporting the implementation of DBT-informed or trauma-responsive services.

When training alone is unlikely to address the full need, it may be paired with program or organizational consultation to support planning, implementation, and sustainability.