DBT agreement: Stretch limits.
DBT principle: Make treatment tolerable.
That’s why Dr. Marcus Rodriguez meets with his middle school client for therapy at a coffee shop. She’s been struggling to engage and he’s committed to stretching his limits to make this challenging treatment as tolerable as possible.
Then she pulls a bearded dragon out of her bag.
No warning. Just: “Can he hang out with us?”
So there Dr. Rodriguez was, doing exposure therapy on himself, for anxiety (“is the dragon going to bite me?”) and for shame (“I’m doing therapy in a café with a lizard”).
Sometimes stretching your limits means holding your treatment frame loosely enough to hold the client, the clinical goals… and a reptile.
At the Youth & Family Institute (YFI), our team provides evidence-based DBT services to support teens and meet clients where they are at—literally. We help families in South Pasadena and Santa Monica navigate challenges like depression, anxiety, trauma, and self-harm.
📞 Contact us today for a free consultation.
