Many therapists share a familiar experience: sensing that something important needs to be addressed — avoidance, withdrawal when challenged, topic-shifting when things become uncomfortable, insight without change — while hesitating to upset the client or strain the relationship. Sessions may remain empathic and emotionally attuned, yet momentum fades as pushing for change feels risky. Backing off feels safer — but the work quietly stalls.
In this follow-up seminar to The Radically Genuine Dialectical Therapist, Chain analysis is a core method in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. It is designed to identify what actually drives problem behaviour, the sequence of events, interpretations, emotions, and urges that lead to it, and the points where change is possible.
Used effectively, it is an active process that requires the therapist to stay engaged with the sequence as it unfolds, especially as emotion intensifies and the urge to avoid or shift away increases. The structure of the chain brings the relevant parts of the problem into the room, where they can be both examined and experienced in real time. This training takes a clear position.
Chain analysis is a way of doing the hard work in real time.
Dealing with symptoms of shutting down and lashing out can be confusing, scary, and frustrating for both the person experiencing them, as well as for the family members. Loved ones often express feeling both worried, helpless, sad, protective AND angry, unappreciated, defensive and burnt-out.
PEACE Psychotherapy offers educational seminars for family members in order to better understand what is going on and how to respond effectively. The seminars are open to current clients’ family members, as well as people who are interested in beginning DBT therapy with PEACE Psychotherapy.
The seminars are provided in an interactive lecture format, and are offered several times a year.
Parents and family members often find themselves trapped between two painful fears:
“If I validate, I’m reinforcing the behaviour.”
“If I hold limits, things will escalate or get worse.”
This course is designed to help families move beyond that false choice.
Validate the Why, Not the What is an 8-week DBT-informed course for parents and family members of teenagers and young adults struggling with emotional dysregulation, emotional reactivity, shutdown, conflict, panic, impulsivity, or repeated cycles of escalation and repair.
Drawing from DBT, family systems theory, attachment theory, and nervous-system research, the course helps families understand why emotionally intense behaviour happens, why escalation cycles develop, and how validation, timing, boundaries, and emotional steadiness can reduce conflict and support change.
The office is close to all three subway lines: Museum Station (2 minute walk), Wellesley Station (9 minute walk) and Bay Station (9 minute walk). Street and lot parking available.
