At Oakland DBT and Mindfulness Center, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) remains the heart of our work. It offers a structured, evidence-based framework to help clients build skills, regulate emotions, and navigate life with greater resilience and mindfulness.
For many, DBT is life-changing, and we’re proud of the reputation we’ve built as a trusted DBT provider.
And yet, healing is rarely linear. Each person’s path is deeply individual.Our clients’ needs often extend beyond what DBT alone can address. Over the past several years, our therapists have expanded their training in a range of trauma-informed and integrative modalities. These approaches allow us to meet clients more fully — with greater
flexibility, contextual sensitivity, and respect for the nervous system, the body, and the deeper layers of the Self.
DBT is still our foundation. But it’s no longer the full story.
Below are some of the modalities our clinicians are now integrating — and who might benefit from them.
EMDR Therapy: Healing Distress at Its Roots
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps the brain reprocess painful or traumatic memories through bilateral stimulation — often through techniques like the “butterfly hug.”
EMDR opens a door that traditional talk therapy sometimes can’t access.
Who it’s for:
- Individuals experiencing “big T” or “little t” trauma, grief, or unresolved emotional pain
- Clients struggling with persistent emotional patterns, flashbacks, or nightmares
People seeking a neuroscience-informed, structured approach to healing
Parts Work: Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST)
Janina Fisher’s Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) combines parts work with a trauma-sensitive framework. It helps clients relate to reactive behaviors not as personal failings, but as protective survival strategies.
This model is especially helpful for addressing the lingering effects of trauma, emotional neglect, or invalidation — experiences that are often overlooked but deeply impactful.
There’s so much overlap with DBT, but TIST offers even more tools to help clients respond to themselves with compassion instead of shame.
Janina Fisher’s training helps bridge neurobiology and mindfulness in a way that makes sense to clients. We’re not just talking about trauma — we’re helping people feel safer in their bodies.
Who it’s for:
- People struggling with chronic shame, anxiety, or harsh inner narratives due to trauma
- Clients stuck in patterns of self-sabotage or internal conflict
Individuals healing from both PTSD and complex trauma
DBT-Informed Therapy for Complex PTSD: Integrating Mind and Body
Several of our clinicians have deepened their trauma work through advanced training in DBT-PTSD.
This approach blends DBT’s structure with mindfulness, somatic awareness, and trauma-informed neuroscience.
Many clients benefit from understanding how trauma affects the nervous system — and from learning to reconnect with their bodies and emotions in a grounded, embodied way.
DBT-PTSD is a powerful bridge. It provides tools like Wise Mind exercises focused on compassion and equanimity, which are especially helpful for clients carrying shame.
Who it’s for:
- Clients living with complex trauma, chronic stress, or dissociation
- People struggling with emotion dysregulation, shame, or relational pain
- Individuals seeking trauma care that honors body, culture, and context
Those who want structure and depth in their healing journey
Grief, Psychedelics & Spiritual Integration
As therapists, we’re called to hold space for both individual and collective grief — especially in times of profound change.
Since the pandemic, many people have felt the weight of fractured relationships, political polarization, climate anxiety, and accelerating loss. Amid these global shifts, we still experience the ordinary yet deeply personal grief of losing loved ones, letting go of dreams, or navigating identity shifts.
Therapy can be a powerful space to metabolize these endings — whether personal or planetary — and to begin reimagining what’s possible.
We’ve also continued to expand our work in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP).
Grounded in our DBT and trauma-informed foundation, we’re able to support clients in accessing deep healing within expanded states of consciousness.
This approach provides a new way to reorganize the emotions and thoughts surrounding difficult, painful, or traumatic experiences.
Who KAP may support:
- Individuals experiencing profound grief, spiritual crisis, or facing end-of-life
- Clients with treatment-resistant depression, OCD, or chronic pain
- People seeking legal, supported psychedelic-assisted therapy
Those longing for meaning-making, ritual, or spiritual integration as part of healing
Evolving Together: Growth Within the Team
These new trainings are transforming both how we help our clients and how we grow as a team.
Our consultations are a space for reflection, cross-pollination of ideas, and mutual support. New tools make the space even more dynamic.
We’re rooted in DBT while offering new ways to reach for resilience.
We remain committed to offering full-model DBT with strong fidelity.
At the same time, we’re widening the lens. By integrating trauma-informed, somatic, and spiritual approaches, we’re expanding what’s possible in therapy — and meeting our clients with the nuance and care they deserve.
If you’re curious about working with a therapist who offers a blend of these approaches, we welcome you to reach out.
