DBT-Informed Treatment of Bipolar Affective Disorder
A client you have worked with for two years, carrying a bipolar diagnosis, goes to emergency, sees a different psychiatrist, and comes back with borderline personality disorder instead. Sheri Van Dijk can usually name which psychiatrist they saw. Same constellation of symptoms, different clinician, different diagnosis, and a different treatment plan follows from it.
That is the problem this course starts with, and she is unusually direct about it. Bipolar disorder is genuinely hard to recognise: the episodes vary between people and within the same person over time, the comorbidities are heavy, and the overlap with borderline presentations is real even though the consensus is that they are distinct. Getting it wrong means treating the wrong illness. Getting it right means the harder conversation, which is helping a client accept a diagnosis they did not want, because that acceptance is what treatment adherence rests on.
Then the treatment. She started a DBT group for bipolar disorder in 2007, in a hospital brief therapy clinic, because she looked around for what anyone else was doing with this population and found nothing. The work won her the R.O. Jones Award from the Canadian Psychiatric Association. Five hours covering the diagnostic categories and aetiology, comorbidity and suicide risk, psychoeducation that a client will actually take on, the existing psychotherapies for bipolar disorder and where they sit, and then the DBT skills that matter most here: mood tracking and planning ahead for known triggers, wise mind against emotion mind, mindfulness of current emotion, self-validation, opposite action and COPE ahead.
You’ll walk away with
- The diagnostic categories of bipolar disorder, and what makes recognition genuinely difficult rather than careless
- Bipolar and borderline presentations: where they overlap, where they differ, and why the same client can receive either
- Medication-induced and otherwise induced manic episodes, and what to watch for
- Comorbidity, suicide risk, and what living with this illness alongside others actually involves
- Psychoeducation a client will accept, which is the step treatment adherence depends on
- Where the existing evidence-based psychotherapies for bipolar disorder sit, and what each is for
- The rationale for bringing DBT to this population, from the clinician who did it first
- Mood tracking with a client, and what they learn about their own pattern from doing it
- Planning ahead for a known trigger, including seasonal patterns, months before it arrives
- Wise mind, reasoning mind and emotion mind applied specifically to hypomanic and depressive states
- Mindfulness of current emotion, self-validation, opposite action and COPE ahead, with bipolar examples throughout
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Where this sits: the specialist application of Sheri Van Dijk’s DBT work, and her own area of expertise. Calming the Emotional Storm teaches the full set of skills this course draws on, and is the better starting point if DBT is unfamiliar.
Please note: her clinical work is with clients aged sixteen and older.
Course Duration: 5 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Individuals struggling with complex trauma, emotion dysregulation, and treatment-resistant mental health conditions - and the practitioners working with clients whose symptoms don't respond to traditional approaches - may need more than standard therapy to address the deep neurological patterns that drive emotional instability. Sheri Van Dijk has spent over 25 years mastering the integration of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with EMDR and cutting-edge trauma treatments, becoming one of the world's leading experts in helping clients develop the emotion regulation skills essential for lasting recovery.
As a bestselling author with New Harbinger Publications and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant, Van Dijk brings exceptional expertise that bridges evidence-based therapy with practical accessibility. Her award-winning book The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook and The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for C-PTSD (2025) demonstrate her unique ability to make complex therapeutic concepts immediately usable for both clients and practitioners. Her R.O. Jones Award from the Canadian Psychiatric Association for research on using DBT skills with bipolar disorder reflects her innovative work in expanding DBT applications beyond borderline personality disorder to help diverse populations develop emotional stability.
Van Dijk's expertise spans Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Complex PTSD treatment, trauma therapy, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and what she calls helping clients move from emotional chaos to emotional mastery. Her approach recognises that many clients struggle not because they lack motivation, but because they've never been taught the specific skills needed to regulate intense emotions effectively. She specialises in working with individuals who experience emotional overwhelm, those with complex trauma histories, clients with bipolar disorder or personality disorders, and practitioners wanting to develop expertise in evidence-based emotion regulation interventions.
What sets her training apart is practical skill-building combined with trauma-informed wisdom. Van Dijk doesn't just teach DBT theory - she shows practitioners exactly how to help clients develop the concrete skills they need to manage crisis situations, regulate intense emotions, and build the distress tolerance that makes recovery possible. Her integration of EMDR with DBT creates comprehensive approaches that address both trauma processing and skill development simultaneously.
For your practice, expect to gain specific DBT techniques for different diagnostic presentations, tools for integrating trauma processing with emotion regulation skills, and frameworks for making evidence-based therapies accessible to clients across various mental health conditions. Her approach particularly benefits clinicians working with emotion dysregulation, those treating complex trauma presentations, or practitioners wanting to develop expertise in DBT and EMDR integration.
Quick Win: Van Dijk's "TIPP" technique (Temperature change, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Progressive muscle relaxation) helps clients regulate crisis-level emotions - to prevent self-harm or impulsive behaviors while building confidence in their ability to manage intense feelings.
Qualifications
- MSW, Social Work, University of Toronto, Canada, 2003–2004
- BSW, Social Work, York University, Canada, 2001–2003
- B.A., Sociology and Criminology, University of Toronto, Canada, 1993–1997
- Registered Social Worker (RSW), College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
- EMDR-trained and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant
- Advanced training: Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), Neurofeedback, Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)
- 25+ years experience in mental health field
Authored Books
- The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for C-PTSD (2025, New Harbinger Publications)
- Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens (bestseller, New Harbinger Publications)
- DBT Made Simple (2013, New Harbinger Publications)
- The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder (2009, New Harbinger Publications)
- Calming the Emotional Storm (New Harbinger Publications)
- The DBT Workbook for Emotional Relief (New Harbinger Publications)
- The Bipolar Workbook for Teens (co-author, New Harbinger Publications)
Professional Experience
- Psychotherapist, Private Practice, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, December 2003–present (21+ years)
- EMDR Consultant, EMDRIA-Approved
- International Trainer and Consultant, DBT and EMDR
- Mental Health Therapist, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, March 2004–July 2018 (14+ years)
- Founder, Ananda Mental Health Workshops, Barrie, Ontario, January 2017–April 2020
Treatment Populations
- Individuals aged 16 and older
- Complex trauma survivors and C-PTSD presentations
- Clients with bipolar disorder and mood disorders
- Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation
- Anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD
- Eating disorders and substance use disorders (secondary to mental health issues)
Ready to help clients develop genuine emotion regulation skills while processing complex trauma? Discover how Sheri Van Dijk's integrated DBT and EMDR methods can transform your ability to help clients move from emotional chaos to emotional mastery through evidence-based skills designed to work in crisis situations.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 1
- Topics 3
- Duration 5 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English