A skills-practice companion that your clients can use between sessions.
DBT Skills Coach is a text-based coaching tool grounded in Marsha Linehan's DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets. It's designed to be used alongside therapy — not instead of it. This page is for clinicians evaluating whether to share it with clients.
I built this because my own DBT therapist told me to.
I'm a software engineer. I also have BPD, and DBT is the therapy that actually changed my life.
The hard part of DBT was never learning the skills in session. It was remembering to use them at 2 a.m. when I was spiraling and my therapist wasn't available. The workbook was in a drawer. I couldn't think straight enough to flip to the right chapter. I just needed someone to walk me through TIPP right then.
My DBT therapist knows I'm a developer and suggested I build exactly this. She's since tested it and told me it recommends what she'd recommend in the same scenarios. That mattered more to me than any metric will.
— Josh Holly, maker
What this is, and what it isn't.
I want to be precise about this, because vague claims in AI mental health tools are how people get hurt.
✓ What it is
- A skills-practice tool grounded in Linehan's handouts
- Available when a clinician isn't — between sessions, at 2 a.m.
- Focused on the four DBT modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness
- Shareable with a therapist via secure session links (client-controlled, revocable)
- Text-based and conversational — meant to feel like the workbook talking back
✗ What it isn't
- Not a therapist, and doesn't present itself as one
- Not a crisis resource — users in crisis are directed to 988, 911, or their care team
- Not a diagnostic or assessment tool
- Not a substitute for the therapeutic relationship or individual DBT
- Not trained to do any intervention that requires clinical supervision
How I think about AI in mental health.
The concerns clinicians have about AI therapy products are usually well-founded. Here's how I've tried to address them.
Skills practice is a narrow, reasonable fit for AI.
DBT skills are manualized. They have defined steps, acronyms, and worksheets. Walking someone through TIPP or Check the Facts is structurally similar to what a well-trained assistant can actually do well. This is very different from unstructured talk therapy, which I don't think AI should attempt.
The model is grounded, not improvising.
Coaching responses are anchored to Linehan's handouts and worksheets. The assistant is prompted to reference specific skills by name and to redirect to a clinician for anything outside that scope.
Crisis language triggers redirection, not engagement.
When a user expresses imminent risk, the assistant doesn't try to "talk them down" — it surfaces 988, emergency services, and a reminder to contact their treatment team. I'd rather the tool be boring in these moments than clever.
Clients can share sessions with you.
A client can share a single session — or their full practice history — with their clinician via a secure link. They control access and can revoke it at any time. This is designed so that what happens between sessions becomes visible in session, not hidden from it.
I want your feedback, including the hard kind.
If you try it and something feels clinically off — a skill misapplied, a tone that wouldn't land, a case it shouldn't be engaging with — I want to hear about it. Lived experience and clinical judgment are different things, and the tool needs both.
Free for you. Discounted for your clients.
Two things I offer to clinicians. Both are straightforward and both come from the request form below.
Lifetime free account
Full access, forever. So you can actually evaluate it with your own cases in mind and decide whether to recommend it. No expiration, no conversion pitch.
20% off, lifetime
Shareable code you can pass to clients who would benefit. They get a reduced rate for as long as they use it. You can request as many codes as you'll actually use.
Get your clinician code.
I review these personally, usually within 48 hours. If you've got questions before committing to try it, the form field at the bottom is the right place — I read all of them.