MORE THAN THERAPYTHE RESOURCE LIBRARY

Dialectical behavior therapy / DBT-A01-4

Acceptance and Change Together — Session activity

Facilitate a structured practice of acceptance and change together with preparation, reflection, and an agreed closing.

30 minutes · Session guide · Mental health professionals

Download printable PDFPreview / add to packet

Fictional example: Taylor feels disappointed and still wants to make a clear request.

Use within your training and assessment of readiness. Acceptance and change can be held together without approving harm.

0–5 min | Agree on purpose and fit

Explain the educational scope. Ask what would be useful, check readiness and access needs, and establish choices to observe, adapt, or pass. Use an ordinary example; do not solicit trauma narratives.

5–10 min | Orient with an example

Acceptance and change can be held together without approving harm. Fictional example: Taylor feels disappointed and still wants to make a clear request. Ask what is observed and what remains uncertain.

10–20 min | Practice and compare

Write two accurate statements about a manageable difficulty: what is true now and what you want to influence. Offer quiet individual work, a supported conversation, or an observing role. Compare two possible responses without evaluating people as right or wrong.

20–25 min | Reflect on meaning

What can be accepted as present while you choose a change? Ask what fit, what did not fit, and how culture, power, disability access, or external conditions affect the options.

25–30 min | Integrate and close

Invite one optional next step or support request. Orient to the current setting, allow an unfinished question to remain unfinished, and agree how to revisit it. End early or adapt if activation increases.

Adaptations

For a group, use fiction and no compulsory round-robin disclosure. For remote use, allow off-camera reflection and private notes. For brief use, keep one example and one question while retaining opening and closing choices.

Prompts for this resource

  1. What outcome would make this practice useful?
  2. What can be accepted as present while you choose a change?
  3. What adaptation or follow-up is needed?

Conceptual background

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training: Fundamentals — Behavioral Tech Institute

Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.

Explore all 100 Dialectical behavior therapy resources