DBT & The 12 Steps - March 20, 2026

A 6-Hour Training with Devon Frontczak, MSW

8:30am-4:00pm

130 Pembroke Road, Suite 150, Concord, NH 03301

Presentation: This full-day professional training provides clinicians, social workers, and case managers with a comprehensive framework for integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) principles with the 12-Step recovery model. The workshop explores how these two evidence-based and spiritually informed approaches intersect to promote emotional regulation, relapse prevention, and long-term recovery in clients with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Through a combination of didactic instruction, experiential practice, and case-based application, participants will learn how to implement DBT skills—Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness—within the structure and values of the 12-Step philosophy, emphasizing acceptance, accountability, and connection. The training highlights how “emotional sobriety” becomes the bridge between behavioral change and spiritual growth, helping clients build resilience, reduce self-destructive patterns, and cultivate purpose.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the core principles of both DBT and the 12 Steps and articulate their complementary roles in recovery;
2. Demonstrate how DBT’s skill modules can be used to strengthen engagement with each Step in the recovery process;
3. Apply practical interventions to address emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and relapse vulnerability;
4. Incorporate mindfulness and radical acceptance techniques into recovery-oriented treatment planning; and
5. Support clients in developing emotional sobriety—defined as the ability to tolerate, understand, and respond to emotions without substance use or maladaptive coping.

6 Contact Hours Available

CRSW Performance Domains: 3-4
LADC/MLADC Categories of Competence: 6-7, 11 & 13-18
Certified Prevention Specialist Domains: 6
NBCC: LICSW/L-MFT/LCMHC (Category A) & Psychologist (Category A) 

NH Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors Association has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider. ACEP No 6754. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. NHADACA is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.

This training is financed under a contract with the State of NH, Department of Health and Human Services, with funds provided in part by the State of NH and/or such funding sources as were available or required, e.g., the United States Department of Health and Human Services.