Reach Life Changing Outcomes with your Music Therapy Clients through the Power of DBT!
DBT Informed Music Therapy Program
A specialized CMTE training for a small, select group of music therapists
ready to integrate DBT’s life-changing skills into their practice.
Your first step: Apply for the program.
Early applicants get first choice for a seat in the Fall 2025 cohort.
Only 10 participants per group.
Enrollment closes September 22, 2025.
Why This Training Matters
for Music Therapists
Gain a Complete Toolkit to Transform Lives - Including Your Own
In this program, you’ll gain the skills, strategies, and confidence to help clients navigate life’s challenges and create their own “life worth living.”
You'll gain:
- Practical, ready-to-use formulas for mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness
- Confidence to support clients with impulsive behaviors and dysregulated emotions - guiding them toward lasting change they can carry into the rest of their lives
- The ability to cope with difficult situations in your own life using the very skills you teach
As a music therapist, you’ll add a powerful dimension to DBT skills training - helping clients learn, practice, and remember skills so they actually use them when they need them most.
Upon completion, you’ll earn:
- 100 CMTE credits
- A professional credential recognizing your demonstrated competency as a DBT Informed Music Therapist
Join the movement as we combine DBT skills with music therapy to help your clients
"build a life worth living!"
Why Peggy Tileston Recommends This Training to Every Music Therapist
Peggy Tileston MT-BC
Clinical Training Coordinator, Temple University
Graduate of the DBT Informed Music Therapy Program
Peggy shares 4 reasons she recommends this training:
- Personal growth and integrity from applying DBT skills yourself
- Exceptional clinical supervision to integrate DBT into your practice
- A supportive cohort community of like-minded peers
- 100 CMTE credits
Watch Peggy’s Story:
Is this familiar?
You discover DBT and realize how much it could help your clients…t our text in this area
So you:
- Buy books and scour the internet for ideas
- Spend hours experimenting and troubleshooting
- Try to piece together DBT and music therapy on your own
But without a proven, evidence-based system, progress is slow and frustrating.
You may:
- Struggle to adapt DBT skills for your clients in a way that actually sticks
- Wish you had a ready-to-go set of coping skills for crisis moments
- Feel left out of the treatment team conversation because you don’t “speak DBT” fluently
- Spend hours reinventing the wheel instead of confidently implementing skills in your sessions
The Changes This Training Can Bring to You and Your Clients
Deep Knowledge & Proven Methods
- Gain a complete and thorough study of DBT skills with music therapy applications, giving you a repertoire of coping skills to support both your clients and yourself
- Learn an evidence-based, tried-and-true system you can adapt to your own clientele to make a greater impact
Applying DBT Skills in Your Practice
- Teach DBT skills in the context of music therapy sessions or as a co-leader in DBT skills training groups
- Receive a full year of professional supervision while implementing what you learn, building confidence in your ability to apply DBT through music therapy
- Become fluent in DBT terminology and collaborate easily with other clinicians to share ideas and strategies that improve client outcomes
- Communicate effectively across disciplines and coordinate group planning within the DBT structure so your skills are recognized and valued
Impact on Client Outcomes
- Help clients manage crises and regulate emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and actions, leading to greater stability and fewer hospitalizations
- Select the right DBT skills to use when clients present with different issues and behaviors
- Create and implement effective music therapy interventions within the DBT framework so clients learn and remember skills they can use in daily life
Career Growth & Recognition
- Attract new clients and income opportunities by joining existing DBT programs or integrating DBT into your private practice
- Maintain high standards of excellence through advanced training and education.
- Feel confident in your role as a DBT Informed Music Therapist, knowing how to work within a DBT milieu or apply DBT in your own music therapy practice
- Earn a credential from The Spiegel Academy recognizing you as a DBT Informed Music Therapist with demonstrated competency in DBT practice
Hear from Graduates of the Training
"This is a very well put together program and the instructors are impressively knowledgeable - at the top of their game."
I learned a new skill set that I had never learned before in school or anywhere. The DBT skills are very useful and applicable with all populations. Being able to have all the skills for mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness to integrate into my music therapy has helped me address behavior, emotion regulation and communication issues with my clients."
Rachael Williams MT-BC
"This DBT informed Music Therapist training has been profoundly beneficial both personally and professionally. My intention was to learn tools to use with my clients, which I have, and the supervision has been priceless. The bonus to me is being able to implement the skills myself and how it has improved my own life."
Betsey Carle MT-BC
"The DBT Informed Music Therapy Program I completed at the Spiegel Academy is the best music therapy training I have ever taken..."
"I not only earned 100 CMTEs in a year, for a very comparable price I might add, but I now also have a credential and an effective evidence based skillset to use with a wide variety of populations."
Stephen King MT-BC
"I indeed learned common language to use so that I am better able to communicate with other therapists."
Diana Gross MT-BC
"Since taking the training from The Spiegel Academy, I developed a DBT skills group with the psychologist. We did research to show the effectiveness of combining music therapy with traditional skills training."
Lindsey Landeck MT-BC
"I am very excited to see the partnership of DBT skills and MT interventions emerge as what is sure to be a frontrunner in best practices of care."
Kirsten Sorensen, MT-BC
Ready to Create Your Own Success Story?
The DBT Informed Music Therapy Training Program
is limited to 10 participants per cohort.
Your first step is to apply for the program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I be able to run DBT skills groups as a result of this training?
The multiple layers of this program give you the ground work to learn, understand, and apply DBT skills in your practice. The curriculum is designed to delve into DBT skills straight from Linehan’s work through independent reading, working the skills step by step to deepen ways to understand, practice verbiage to teach them, explore personal use in a skills-training group like setting, and practice application as a music therapist. Supervision rounds out the training over several months to solidify and strengthen confidence in teaching DBT skills in your music therapy practice in meaningful application.
How much time will it take?
About 6-8 hours a month.
The first month is for completing the self-study classes. Month 2-12 you'll attend weekly meetings (Monday nights) and complete monthly assignments for learning the skills and how to implement them through music therapy.
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.
Who teaches this training, and what are their qualifications in DBT and music therapy?
You’ll be learning from a team of board-certified music therapists and DBT-trained clinicians who bring real-world expertise and deep DBT experience.
Deborah Spiegel, MT‑BC (Program Co‑Founder & Lead Instructor)
Board-certified music therapist with over four decades of experience, integrating DBT into clinical work since 2001 and author of Creative DBT Activities Using Music.
Suzanne Makary, MT‑BC (Participant Supervisor & DBT‑Trained MT)
Graduate of our DBT Informed Music Therapy program with extensive experience facilitating DBT‑integrated sessions in behavioral health.
Kim Johnson, MT‑BC, LMHC (Participant Supervisor & DBT‑Trained MT Clinician)
Trained intensively in DBT through Behavioral Tech, applying skills in both music therapy and clinical counseling.
Cait Carter, MT‑BC (Implementation & Q&A Facilitator)
Graduate of our program and the Behavioral Tech DBT intensive, leading hands‑on implementation and Q&A sessions for participants.
Dr. Lauren Bonavitacola, PsyD, MT‑BC (Senior Clinical Advisor)
Co‑creator of the curriculum, now serving as senior advisor providing high‑level clinical consultation and guidance.
Bailey Hinz MA, MT-BC, LPMT, LMSW, CSW-I (Facilitator & DBT‑Informed MT)
Facilitates program training and applies DBT in both private practice and adolescent partial hospitalization programs.
Kelly Howard (Customer Success Manager: DBT Support Specialist)
Supports participants from enrollment through completion, ensuring a smooth, well‑supported training experience.
Does DBT only apply to borderline personality disorder?
Not at all. While DBT was originally developed for borderline personality disorder, it’s now used effectively with a wide range of diagnoses and in many settings - including schools, prisons, addiction recovery programs, and general mental health care.
Music therapists and other clinicians also use DBT skills with children, adolescents, adults, and seniors; in hospice; with hospital staff; for wellness and self-development; and with clients of varying abilities.
Here are examples from music therapists who have successfully integrated DBT into diverse settings and populations:
"Bringing what I learned back to the kids, and using it on myself has helped a lot with difficulties in sessions. This is definitely something they need and I was able to adapt it like I adapt anything I do with them."
Chelsea Josephson MT-BC
MT in Residential Treatment for Children
with Cognitive Delays & Challenging Behaviors
"This training refreshed me with a lot of new ideas, a new direction, and a good understanding. I really appreciated not just reading about it, but the videos and the live feedback. It was very validating because sometimes being the only music therapist you feel on an island by yourself."
Suzanne Makary MT-BC
Adult Acute Mental Health
Partial Hospitalization Program
"I LOVE DBT skills. They are helpful for anybody on so many levels.
Victoria Mierlak MT-BC
Adolescent Residential Care:
Mental Health w/ Criminal Charges
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.
What exactly is included in this program?
Your Complete DBT Informed Music Therapy Training Package
You get more than $12,000 worth of expert training, tools, and bonuses designed to elevate your clinical skills and transform your practice - all for much less than you might expect.
Here’s what’s inside:
- A complete DBT skills foundation through self-study classes, readings, and experiential activities
- Weekly live online training sessions with our DBT-trained music therapy faculty for skills practice, case application, and real-time feedback.
- Hands-on implementation support so you can begin applying DBT skills effectively in your setting right away.
- Structured supervision & mentoring from experienced DBT-informed board certified music therapists to build clinical confidence and competence.
- Peer collaboration in a supportive learning community of fellow music therapists working in diverse clinical environments.
- Access to proven music-based DBT interventions to enhance client engagement, motivation, and retention.
- Program completion certificate designating you as a DBT Informed Music Therapist (or equivalent for other disciplines)
1 year Training Program - 100 CMTEs
This is a comprehensive year long training that will transform your life and give you unique professional qualifications. We've divided it into 3 parts, designed to take you step by step so you get the best experience to help you learn the skills and confidently apply them with music therapy.
Your Training Journey:
Part 1 – Foundations (Sept)
Self‑study DBT & mindfulness courses + music‑based interventions to use immediately.
Part 2 – In‑Depth Skills Study & Supervision (Oct–Mar)
Weekly skills training, case application, and monthly supervision.
Part 3 – Implementation & Support (Apr–Sept)
Scenario‑based practice, supervision, and faculty guidance while applying DBT‑informed interventions in your setting.
Finale – Credential
Endorsement as a DBT Informed Music Therapist.
Bonuses Included ($4,900+ Value)
- Ethics class to meet your recertification requirement
- 6 week Mindfulness Program Template with assessment and ready made interventions that you can use right away
- DBT Music Therapy Resource Hub for session planning and use in therapy
- DBT for your neurodivergent clients
- Free tickets to virtual retreat for new ideas and strategies on using DBT with various populations
- Online community where you feel you belong
- Intervention debriefs so you're always improving
- DBT Forum for extra feedback from our team
To open a detailed program page with exact dates, faculty, and full value breakdown...click below:
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