Please join us in celebrating Dr. Marsha Linehan’s birthday, today May 5th by sharing your well wishes and reflections via email to: [email protected]
If DBT has touched your life or your work, you are invited to send a birthday message for Marsha, a favorite DBT skill, or a brief story of hope that we can include in a special gift to Marsha.
Marsha’s daughter Geri has shared that reading these together has brought them both great joy, and your contribution will help keep that sense of connection going.
Many of us in the DBT community take time in May to celebrate Dr. Marsha Linehan, the psychologist who developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and changed the landscape of mental health care. Marking her birthday month is a way to honor both her personal story of survival and the hope she has offered to people and families worldwide.
Dr. Linehan created DBT in response to the needs of people who were chronically suicidal and had been told they were “treatment resistant.” Today, DBT is considered a gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder and other problems involving intense emotions, suicidality, and self-harm, and its skills are used in many different settings.
For clients and families, this month can be an invitation to pause and notice how DBT skills are shaping daily life: using mindfulness to ride out a wave of emotion, practicing distress tolerance during a crisis, or choosing skillful communication in a tough conversation. Even small shifts, like taking one effective action when everything in you wants to give up, are part of building what DBT calls “a life worth living.”
For professionals, it is also a moment of gratitude and recommitment. We can appreciate the science, persistence, and compassion behind DBT, and the way it invites us to balance acceptance and change in our own lives as well as our work.
Whether you are a client, family member, or clinician, taking a few minutes this May to reflect, share a favorite DBT skill, or express thanks for Dr. Linehan’s contributions is one small way to honor her ongoing legacy.
We welcome your contribution and thank you in advance for your willingness!
