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DBT House / DBH-A19-4

A Shared House by Consent — Session activity

Facilitate a structured practice of a shared house by consent with preparation, reflection, and an agreed closing.

30 minutes · Session guide · Mental health professionals

Download printable PDFPreview / add to packet

Fictional example: A group adds support ideas to a shared drawing while keeping personal notes private.

Use within your training and assessment of readiness. A group house can represent shared resources without requiring personal disclosure.

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

A group house can represent shared resources without requiring personal disclosure. Fictional example: A group adds support ideas to a shared drawing while keeping personal notes private. Ask what is observed and what remains uncertain.

10–20 min | Practice and compare

Build a fictional shared structure with optional contributions, permission before interpretation, and no requirement to display private work. 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

How can the shared design leave room for different needs? 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. How can the shared design leave room for different needs?
  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.

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