Lived-Experience DBT Consults for Clinicians
A Lived-Experience DBT Consult is one hour, one human to another. Ask me anything, with someone who has lived these skills and taught them for thirteen years.
You know the DBT protocol. This is the part the manuals cannot teach you: what these skills actually feel like to learn and live when you have BPD or cPTSD, and how to bring them to your clients in a way that truly lands.
Hi, I’m Debbie
Hi, I’m Debbie, and I’m the founder of DBT Path. I’m in recovery from BPD and cPTSD, and I have been teaching DBT skills online since 2013. Over the years I have sat with thousands of emotionally sensitive people as they learned these skills, and I have lived them myself, from the inside out. I created Lived-Experience DBT Consults because so many clinicians have asked me what these skills really feel like to learn and live, and how to bring them to clients in a way that truly lands. I would love to share what I have learned with you.
DBT from the inside out
Most training teaches DBT from the outside, as protocol and worksheets. In a Lived-Experience DBT Consult, you get the inside view from Debbie DeMarco Bennett, who is in recovery from BPD and cPTSD and has taught DBT skills online since 2013 through DBT Path. She can show you where the standard framing lands wrong for a sensitive nervous system, what quietly shuts a client down, and what makes a skill finally click. This is consultation and education from lived experience, not clinical supervision or therapy.
Who books a Lived-Experience DBT Consult
This is for the helper who wants more than the protocol. If you work with emotionally sensitive clients and want your DBT to resonate rather than alienate, you are exactly who this is for:
- Therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, and school counselors working with emotionally sensitive, BPD, or cPTSD clients.
- Clinical psychology graduate students.
- Clinicians starting their own practice.
- Clinicians thinking about starting a DBT skills group.
- Clinicians who have completed formal DBT training (Psychwire, Behavioral Tech, and others) and want the lived-experience layer that makes it real.
More than one story
Debbie brings her own recovery, but she does not only bring her own experience. Over thirteen years she has taught these skills to thousands of emotionally sensitive people, so she can speak to patterns: what tends to help, what tends to backfire, and what people with BPD and cPTSD say again and again. Everyone’s experience is unique, and Debbie does not represent every person with BPD or cPTSD. What she offers is a rare pairing of lived insight and real breadth.
A foundation in how the mind works
Alongside her lived experience and thirteen years of teaching DBT skills, Debbie holds a master’s degree in Consciousness and Human Potential from Maharishi International University. The program drew on neuroscience, the relationship between brain functioning and consciousness, and how people grow and change across the lifespan, giving her a deep framework for understanding the inner workings of the mind and our capacity for transformation. It is a lens she brings to every consultation.
What a session is like
Each consult is a focused hour, one-on-one on Zoom. When you book, you answer a short question about what you would like to explore so Debbie can prepare. From there it is a real conversation built entirely around what you bring, whether that is a client situation (kept general and de-identified), how to frame a particular skill, or how to shape a DBT skills group of your own.
Investment
A Lived-Experience DBT Consult is $250 for the hour. Graduate students and early-career clinicians are warmly welcome at a reduced rate of $175. Full details and booking terms are provided when you schedule.
Be first in line
Bookings open soon. Join the list below and you will be the first to know when you can schedule a Lived-Experience DBT Consult.
Lived-Experience DBT Consults are lived-experience consultation and education for professionals. They are not therapy, clinical supervision, or a substitute for licensed clinical consultation.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Lived-Experience DBT Consult?
A Lived-Experience DBT Consult is a one-hour, one-on-one consultation where a clinician or helping professional meets with Debbie DeMarco Bennett to gain a lived-experience perspective on understanding clients and implementing DBT, especially for BPD and cPTSD. It is education and consultation, not clinical supervision or therapy.
Who is a Lived-Experience DBT Consult for?
It is for therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, and school counselors, as well as clinical psychology graduate students, clinicians starting their own practice or a DBT skills group, and anyone who has completed formal DBT training and wants the lived-experience layer that makes it real.
Is this clinical supervision or therapy?
No. A Lived-Experience DBT Consult is lived-experience consultation and education. It is not therapy, not clinical supervision, and not a substitute for licensed clinical consultation.
What happens in a session?
Each session is a focused hour on Zoom, built around what you bring. You answer a short intake question when you book so Debbie can prepare, and from there it is a real conversation shaped entirely by your questions.
How much does a Lived-Experience DBT Consult cost?
A Lived-Experience DBT Consult is $250 for the hour. Graduate students and early-career clinicians are welcome at a reduced rate of $175.