Music Therapist: Elevate Your Ability to Support Clients’ Emotions and Coping Skills
Utilize DBT Techniques Specifically Designed for Music Therapy
Create Lasting Change
For Your Clients and Your Professional Growth!
Are You Struggling to Support Clients with Intense Emotions and Impulsive Behaviors?
As a music therapist, you know how powerful your interventions can be. But what happens when clients’ emotional responses become overwhelming, or their behaviors seem beyond your reach? If any of these challenges sound familiar, you’re not alone:
- Feeling Unprepared to Address Intense Emotions and Behaviors?
Overwhelmed by your clients' extreme emotional reactions or impulsive behaviors and not sure how to respond effectively?
- Lacking the Tools to Manage High-Intensity Sessions?
Do your sessions feel chaotic or unpredictable because you’re missing verbal counseling skills to contain emotions and guide clients through distressing moments?
- Feeling Isolated and Lacking Support?
Do you wish you had a supportive community or a framework to help you integrate effective therapeutic strategies with your music therapy practice?
If you’re nodding along, it’s time to take your practice to the next level and feel empowered in every session.
Imagine feeling equipped
...and confident
to handle every emotional challenge that comes your way!
With DBT, you’ll have skills, techniques, and support to transform your practice and your clients’ lives.
Why Choose a DBT Informed Approach?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is uniquely suited for music therapists working with clients who struggle with intense emotions, impulsive behaviors, or emotion dysregulation. Here’s why integrating DBT into your music therapy practice can be a game-changer:
- Evidence-Based Approach for Managing Emotion Dysregulation
DBT is a clinically proven model for helping clients regulate emotions, reduce self-destructive behaviors, and build healthier relationships. - Empowers Clients with Practical Life Skills
DBT teaches concrete, actionable skills that clients can use in their daily lives, beyond the therapy room. Integrating these skills into your music therapy practice empowers clients to apply what they’ve learned to manage stress, navigate interpersonal challenges, and sustain long-term emotional balance. - Versatile Techniques to Meet Individual Needs
Whether it’s a client who shuts down emotionally or one who struggles with impulse control, DBT’s diverse range of techniques gives you multiple ways to meet clients where they are. You can adapt skills and strategies to match the client’s unique needs, providing personalized, holistic care. - Fills the Gap Between Verbal and Non-Verbal Interventions
Learn verbal techniques to confidently address even the most challenging client situations. Be equipped to create comprehensive, integrative treatment plans that blend the best of both approaches, leading to greater client engagement and better overall outcomes.
"I have an even bigger toolkit now, and more importantly I know know how to talk about the skills, and translate them into what we are doing within our music therapy interventions. I think I sound more confident and will be more on board with the entire treatment team. The course content was great- really good information."
Elizabeth La Combe MT-BC
Introducing:
DBT Essentials Toolkit for Music Therapists!
We invite you to embark on a transformative 8 week study that combines the power of music therapy with the evidence-based principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Gain a solid foundation of practical life skills and music therapy interventions to enrich your practice and open up new possibilities for client support!
Gain skills to help you as clinician to:
- address a wide range of client needs comprehensively in managing emotions, improving interpersonal relationships, and developing coping skills.
- be more versatile and effective in your therapeutic interventions, tailor interventions more precisely to individual needs, address a wider range of issues, and facilitate deeper therapeutic work.
- find new opportunities for collaboration and professional respect
Clients will gain effective tools for:
- managing crises
- handling distress
- navigating emotional challenges
- gaining improved overall stability and functioning
On a personal level:
- manage your own emotions more effectively
- reduce impulsivity
- improve your ability to handle stress
A wealth of material, resources, and learning opportunities are all included in this toolkit, and will save you time and unnecessary headaches from trying to figure it all out on your own.
DBT Essentials Toolkit for Music Therapists Includes:
- DBT Practical Life Skills Reinforced Through Music Therapy (10 CMTEs)- self study online course giving you a great foundation of DBT skills and tons of interventions to start using in your practice to enrich your practice and open up new possibilities for client support. (Valued at $250)
- Mindfulness and Music in Clinical Practice (8 CMTEs)- Another self study online course where you'll learn music techniques promoting mindfulness so your clients create self awareness and can manage symptoms and behaviors (Valued at $200)
- Merging DBT Mindfulness and Music: Template for A Transformative Six-Week Program (5 CMTEs)- an online self-study course with many interventions and session ideas you can use immediately to support clients in learning DBT mindfulness skills so they gain self awareness, make wise decisions, and think before acting on impulse. (Valued at $125)
- DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub full of interventions and session plans for each DBT skill that you can plug and play in sessions, or use for inspiration as you learn/teach/use the skills so you're able to enhance clients' success by providing structured, evidence-based tools for managing emotions and behaviors. -2 month access (Valued at $100)
- 2 DBT Music Therapy Consultation Group zoom meetings where your questions can be answered and you'll be part of the community of DBT informed MTs to uplevel your music therapy services-(Valued at $150)
- 2 Tickets to our Virtual Retreat where you'll learn how MTs are using DBT with various populations (Valued at $197)
- Earn 23 CMTEs
Total Value is $1022 Yours for only $497!
- Enroll before the timer hits 0 and ...get a rare opportunity to spend 30 minutes in a FREE 1-1 professional consultation with DBT informed music therapy expert Deborah Spiegel MT-BC!
Have skills when you need them the most.
Class #1- DBT: Practical Life Skills Reinforced through Music Therapy
with Deborah Spiegel MT-BC and Lindsey Landeck MT-BC
In this first class you'll learn DBT skills from all four modules of DBT, along with music therapy interventions for each module.
- A music therapist's view of the skills studied in the first edition of Marsha Linehan's DBT Skills training manual.
- Get many MT interventions from the self-study webinar to teach and reinforce DBT skills that you can use with your clients right away.
- Begin to learn the language of DBT so you can communicate better with a DBT team
- 10 CMTE credits
As you start to use these skills in your own life, you’ll be able to be a role model for those around you.
You’ll grow your therapy toolkit to be able to further support your clients with whatever comes up for them. And you'll learn the language of DBT, allowing you to communicate with other disciplines and be seen as a competent member of the team.
You get lifetime access to this class.
“In my hospital setting, I consistently find opportunities to utilize DBT skills to assist in emotion regulation and distress tolerance for patients as is covered with specific details and ideas in this course. Mindfulness practices and interpersonal effectiveness skills are inherent in our own daily lives both personally and professionally.
I was able to share course content with colleagues at the hospital to connect with team goals in the recent trending Trauma Informed Care philosophy for medical settings.”
Denise Lee MT-BC
Class #2-
Mindfulness and Music in Clinical Practice
Mindfulness is at the core of DBT and every other DBT skill is connected to it. Mindfulness experiences are used at the start of each DBT group and individual session, each consultation group meeting, everything. Mindfulness is about being aware of what is going on inside your thoughts, emotions, and body, as well as outside in your environment. It can help us to take a step back from impulsivity and build the wisdom to choose effective outcomes.
This self-study class will give you many ways to utilize music to establish mindfulness to create self awareness, manage symptoms, and regulate emotions and behaviors.
- 8 CMTEs
PLUS - To equip you with essential resources, we have packaged these classes with the following bonuses:
Bonus number 1-
A done for you full six-week program template using Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) mindfulness skills with music therapy interventions that you can implement now!
5 CMTE credits Value $125- Included!
Input
- Learn the seven main DBT mindfulness skills (Wise Mind, WHAT skills, and HOW skills),
- Get examples of a treatment plan
- Receive about 25 music interventions for each skill with potential adaptations
- A non-musical assessment and evaluation tool will be provided with the program for you to implement at your own discretion. I
Why DBT mindfulness?
There are several benefits to incorporating Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) mindfulness skills into music therapy interventions for both music therapists and their clients. Here are a few:
- Enhanced self-awareness: DBT mindfulness skills can help individuals become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, impulses and behaviors. Through self awareness clients can make wiser choices- acting rather than reacting.
- Improved emotion regulation: DBT mindfulness skills help individuals regulate their emotions by teaching them to observe and describe their thoughts and feelings without judgment. By learning DBT mindfulness skills, music therapists and their clients can work together to better understand and regulate emotions in the therapeutic context.
- Increased attention and focus: Mindfulness practices are known to improve attention and focus. By incorporating DBT mindfulness skills into music therapy interventions, music therapists can help clients improve their ability to focus and stay present in the moment.
Overall, incorporating DBT mindfulness skills into music therapy interventions can be highly beneficial for both music therapists and their clients. By working together to teach and strengthen these skills, music therapists can help their clients improve their emotional regulation, attention and focus, self-awareness, and coping skills.
Mindfulness is at the core of all of the other modules of DBT skills, so mastering this module will give you a great foundation.
Bonus number 2 -
DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub
Value $160- Included!
You get 2 months of access to our member's only DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub. This is a library of ready-made resources that will save you time with session planning!
It's also the place to deepen your understanding of each DBT skill while reading and studying the DBT Skills manual.
You’ll find that the paced reading assignments, paired with examples and videos of DBT informed music therapy sessions that correspond to the skills discussed in the manual, will take your understanding way further than just reading the book on your own.t in this area
Bonus number 3 -
Consultation Group Meetings
Value over $150 - Included!
Get your questions answered by a DBT expert on our team, connect with the community, and come away with amazing experiences of professional supervision and personal growth.
You get to attend 2 of our monthly zoom DBT informed MT consultation groups with other DBT informed music therapists, and others who are studying like you are.
Bonus number 4-
2 Tickets to a Virtual Retreat to hear from other DBT informed MTs about how they are using DBT with a variety of populations.
Value $197- yours FREE!
2 tickets to our virtual retreat, for you and a friend. You'll hear presentations from other DBT informed music therapists that are full of new ideas and strategies for implementing DBT with music therapy for a variety of populations.
This is your chance to hear from experts and to meet each other in a live virtual community event.t
* And one final bonus:
We offer a yearlong 100 CMTE specialty training for a cohort of 10 people, where we take a deep dive into an in-depth DBT study with music therapy applications and supervision. Those who complete the advanced DBT Informed Music Therapy Training then qualify for a certificate with an endorsement as a DBT informed Music Therapist. We only take 10 people max per cohort in the advanced training.
If you decide it's right for you to take that next step and apply to the full advanced training after this, everything you invested in this DBT Essentials Toolkit for Music Therapists will be credited towards the tuition for our most advanced training!
Meanwhile, DBT Essentials Toolkit for Music Therapists is a fantastic way to get started practicing DBT in your music therapy practice right away, to uplevel your music therapy services, and make a bigger impact on your clients.
You can't lose!
"I work in a facility where DBT is the form of therapy used for all patients. I found myself wanting to learn more about DBT and how I can help my patients better understand how they can use DBT.
I can use my deeper knowledge of DBT to make sure each music therapy intervention I present to my patients will reinforce their DBT skills. I appreciate the clearness with which the material was presented and the self-paced option. "
Katherine E. Noel MT-BC
Who Are the Experts Providing
the DBT Essentials Toolkit?
Hi. I’m Deborah Spiegel MT-BC, CEO and Director of The Spiegel Academy!
I was working at the mental health institute on the adolescent unit. There was a girl who had been discharged but was readmitted. She came up to me and said “Miss Deb, I was at my placement and the other girls were teasing me, so I climbed up on the roof and was about to jump off when your Pros & Cons song came into my head and I had to get down.”
Yes! I made a difference, and even possibly saved a life that day. This is music therapy. This type of moment makes it all worthwhile.
A music therapist since 1976, I have experience providing music therapy with a variety of populations, most recently mental health.
I am known as the DBT informed Music Therapy expert. I first started using DBT in my music therapy in 2001 when I worked at a mental health facility. I use music and music activities to teach and reinforce DBT skills and support music therapists and allied health professionals to use their discipline to support clients in DBT.
Author of the book Creative DBT Activities Using Music: Interventions for Enhancing Engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy and presenter of workshops nation wide, I'm working with my team now on a second book of creative DBT activities for children.
Katie Down MT-BC, LCAT facilitates "Mindfulness and Music in Clinical Practice" for the Spiegel Academy
Katie is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, who received her masters degree in music therapy from NYU and additional training from ICP in Trauma Studies. She practices and teaches mindfulness meditation with sound and facilitates sound meditations throughout the New York Metropolitan region. Incorporating music, mindfulness, talk therapy, and meditation as tools for relief of pain, anxiety, depression, and difficult life issues.
Melissa Gabel, MT-BC provides the class called "Merging DBT Mindfulness and Music: A Template for a Transformative 6-Week Program."
She is a board-certified music therapist based in Lawrence, KS. She graduated from the University of Kansas with her bachelors in music therapy and a psychology minor in 2020, and completed the DBT Informed Music Therapy Training in 2022. Melissa is presently in grad school continuing her education.
Bailey Hinz MA, MT-BC, LPMT, LMSW, CSW-I is a DBT informed music therapist and a facilitator of the Spiegel Academy’s advanced DBT Informed Music Therapy Program. She will be leading the 2 Monday consultation groups you get to attend.
In 2013, Bailey received her master’s degree in music therapy from Colorado State University. Her graduate thesis was on the utilization of therapeutic music for young women with negative body perception and disordered eating. Bailey then completed a master’s in social work in 2023, and now splits her time between music therapy private practice and a partial hospitalization program for adolescents. She currently provides DBT skills groups for adolescents in and out of the clinic using music therapy.
FAQs
Q-Do I have to attend at a certain time?
Everything is self-study except the consultation groups, which meet for an hour on the last Monday of the month live on zoom at 4pm Pacific, 5pm Mountain, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern.
All the self-study online classes can be completed on your own schedule.
Is there a time limit to access these?
For the following two bonuses yes: You get 2 months of access to the DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub and 2 consultation groups, so complete these in your first 2 months of joining.
You will have lifetime access to the rest of the toolkit!
Q-Will this give me a credential as a DBT informed Music Therapist?
This is step one of the Spiegel Academy's comprehensive yearlong DBT informed Music Therapy Training, and in itself will not earn you that credential, but will put you on the road towards earning it!
Our most advanced DBT Informed Music Therapy Training Program is a year long comprehensive training with supervision. It goes into more advanced aspects of DBT with music therapy applications for a thorough training ending with you demonstrating competence as a DBT informed music therapist.
If you decide it's right for you to take that next step and apply to the full advanced training after this, everything you invested in this DBT Essentials Toolkit for Music Therapists will be credited towards the tuition for our most advanced training!
Q-Is there any research on DBT and music therapy?
In a recent study completed at Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital, a music therapist and a psychologist compared traditional DBT skills groups with skills training that included music therapy. The results on client outcomes were favorable for music. The results were published in the Journal of Music Therapy and can be viewed here.
Lauren Bonavitacola wrote about research in the introduction to the book Creative DBT Activities Using Music: Interventions for Enhancing Engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy. You can read what she wrote here.
Q-Does DBT only apply to borderline personality disorder?
No. DBT has been shown to be effective with a wide range of diagnosis and settings including but not limited to schools, prisons, addiction recovery, and mental health. PLUS people use DBT skills with children, adults, adolescents, seniors, in hospice, with hospital staff, for wellness, for self development, and with a variety of abilities.
Q-Is this worth it for me?
Having this skillset is a really important way to expand the way you can help your clients. When you invest in yourself its going to apply to not only to any clinical work that you do but to help you in your own life. You can be a role model for people in your life and watch the impact you make.
In Summary, You Get:
- DBT Practical Life Skills Reinforced Through Music Therapy (10 CMTEs)- self study online course giving you a great foundation of DBT skills and tons of interventions to start using in your practice to enrich your practice and open up new possibilities for client support. (Valued at $250)
- Mindfulness and Music in Clinical Practice (8 CMTEs)- Another self study online course where you'll learn music techniques promoting mindfulness so your clients create self awareness and can manage symptoms and behaviors (Valued at $200)
- Merging DBT Mindfulness and Music: Template for A Transformative Six-Week Program (5 CMTEs)- an online self-study course with many interventions and session ideas you can use immediately to support clients in learning DBT mindfulness skills so they gain self awareness, make wise decisions, and think before acting on impulse. (Valued at $125)
- DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub full of interventions and session plans for each DBT skill that you can plug and play in sessions, or use for inspiration as you learn/teach/use the skills so you're able to enhance clients' success by providing structured, evidence-based tools for managing emotions and behaviors. -2 month access (Valued at $100)
- 2 DBT Music Therapy Consultation Group zoom meetings where your questions can be answered and you'll be part of the community of DBT informed MTs to uplevel your music therapy services-(Valued at $150)
- 2 Tickets to our Virtual Retreat where you'll learn how MTs are using DBT with various populations (Valued at $197)
- Earn 23 CMTEs
Total Value is $1022
Yours for only $497!
- Enroll before the timer hits 0 and ...get a rare opportunity to spend 30 minutes in a FREE 1-1 professional consultation with DBT informed music therapy expert Deborah Spiegel MT-BC!
©2024 The Spiegel Academy