3 Hours / 3 CEs

On Demand | Self-Paced Professional Training

This on-demand professional training program on The Use of Metaphors and Storytelling to teach DBT Skills is presented by James J. Esmail, PsyD. 

This program begins with an overview of the research on the use of metaphors and storytelling in not only psychotherapy but in a variety of fields, including business and the non-profit world. This not only educates but teaches skills and motivates persons for significant behavioral change.  

Examples of metaphors and storytelling to teach DBT skills across the 4 modules are presented. Emphasis on how using metaphors and stories helps clients not only understand DBT skills but to motivates practice and implementation of the skills. This program enables participants to utilize metaphors and storytelling to teach DBT skills to a variety of populations.   

Suitable for both seasoned DBT group leaders and those considering initiating a DBT group, this program is a resourceful asset. It equips attendees with tools to sculpt valuable group experiences while ensuring the practical applications and benefits of the teachings are made evident to group members. This program provides participants with the unique ability to adapt and apply metaphors and storytelling to teach DBT skills across a wide array of populations. 

In her intro to her 1993 volume Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder, Marsha Linehan points out the need to teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through metaphors and stories (p.209). Thinking in metaphors is one of the crucial building blocks that allows humans to engage in abstract reasoning. The ability to compare something that is abstract, complex, and difficult to understand to something more concrete and tangible has allowed humans to go beyond very simple cognition to understand the more complex realities of life (Landau, Robinson, and Meier, 2014). DBT skills training continues to receive empirical support (McCauley, et al. 2018; Navarro-Haro, 2019; Harned & Botanav, 2016) for both its intended population (self-harming individuals) but also broader applications (anxiety, substance abuse, enhancing social and global functioning). 

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:

  • 1 Describe why the use of metaphor is crucial in teaching DBT concepts and stories to patients in skills training
  • 2 Describe why storytelling is a uniquely crucial medium for teaching complex social and emotion regulation skills to humans
  • 3 Describe examples of metaphors and stories that teach specific dialectical behavior therapy skills in all four modules of DBT (Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance)
  • 4 Identify stories from personal experiences that teach Radical Acceptance and Reality Acceptance skills

  • Intended Audience

    This training is designed for mental health professionals who want to enhance their ability to teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills through the use of metaphors and storytelling. The program is open to clinicians at any stage of their career, whether they are experienced DBT group leaders or considering starting a DBT group for the first time. The training is relevant for professionals working in clinical, educational, or community-based settings, and is suitable for any context where DBT is appropriate for the client population.

  • Experience Level

    This training is applicable for all career stages: entry-level, mid-career, and experienced professionals.

    • Open to all clinicians, regardless of career stage

    • Suitable for both seasoned DBT group leaders and those new to DBT

    • No prior DBT group leadership experience required

  • Practice Setting

    • Mental health professionals interested in teaching DBT skills

    • Clinicians working in clinical, educational, or community-based environments

    • Professionals planning to start or currently leading DBT groups

    • Any clinician whose client population could benefit from DBT

Presented By

James J. Esmail, PsyD, Ohio Department of Mental Health

James J Esmail, PsyD is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice since 1996. He earned the MA and PsyD degrees in clinical psychology from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Esmail is a staff psychologist at the state psychiatric hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio (Summit Behavioral Healthcare), is in private practice, and is an adjunct professor in the Doctor of Psychology program at Xavier University. Dr. Esmail has led DBT groups at both the state hospital and in his private practice for the last 12 years. He has enjoyed seeing DBT change the lives of the patients he works with, but also recognizes how DBT has enhance both his life, and the lives of his group co-leaders, many of whom have been clinical psychology doctoral candidates from the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Wright State University, and Miami University. Aside from his practice, supervision and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Esmail finds many things that make his life worth living. First and foremost are his wife Lynn and teenage sons Noah and Nate, and he also loves playing the guitar, bicycling, reading, doing volunteer work, walking and exercise.

View More Programs from this Presenter
James J. Esmail, PsyD

Training Outline

Key topics covered in this training include:

  • Introduction into the use of metaphors in psychotherapy

  • Introduction to the use of storytelling in psychotherapy, business and the non-profit world to create behavior change and transform the listener

  • Examples of metaphors and stories across the DBT curriculum, including the Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Distress Tolerance/Radical Acceptance modules

CE Sponsorship Information

Palo Alto University, Continuing & Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by, recognized by, or maintains sponsorship provider status with the following boards and agencies. We maintain responsibility for all content in our CE/CPD programs. For more information, visit here. 

  1. American Psychological Association (APA): Approved sponsor of continuing education for psychologists.

  2. Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB): Approved continuing education provider (ACE program, Provider #1480), 11/22/2023–11/22/2026.

  3. Canadian Psychological Association (CPA): Approved to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

  4. National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC): Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP No. 7190).



Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.