Q&A with the Authors
Congratulations on your new book DBT Skills in Elementary Schools, which you coauthored with Jill Rathus and Alec Miller! The manual is a guide to DBT STEPS-E, which can sound a bit technical and formal at first. Can you explain what DBT STEPS-E is in plain language?
DBT STEPS-E is a structured, school-based program that teaches elementary students practical skills for understanding and managing their emotions, handling stress, and building positive relationships. You can think of it like a social-emotional curriculum: just as children learn reading and math by building skills step by step, DBT STEPS-E helps them develop emotional awareness, self-control, and decision-making in an age-appropriate way. These are everyday life skills students can practice at school and use at home, on the playground, and with friends.
How does DBT STEPS-E support the day-to-day work of school psychologists, social workers, and teachers?
School psychologists, social workers, and teachers often juggle supporting students’ emotional needs while also keeping classrooms focused and productive. DBT STEPS-E gives school staff a clear, ready-to-use curriculum that helps students pause, identify the task at hand, and choose responses that support learning rather than escalate problems.
DBT Skills in Elementary Schools is packed with practical tools, including lesson plans, teaching scripts, and reproducible student handouts. One of these is the daily diary card—what is it, and how do students and educators use it day to day?
The daily diary card is a simple tracking and reflection tool that helps students remember the skills they’ve learned and practice applying them to their own lives, both in and out of the classroom. Students use it to notice their emotions, choices, and skill use over the course of the day, while educators can review it to support coaching and reinforcement. Teachers may also adapt the format to fit tools students already use in other classes. Overall, the diary card serves as a gentle, consistent reminder for students to keep practicing their skills in real-life situations.
Through your Instagram account, @dbtinschools, you translate DBT concepts into accessible infographics and classroom-ready tips. How do you decide what content to share, and what kinds of real-world feedback or impact have you seen from your audience?
We usually choose an overall theme for each quarter and shape our content around that focus. Everything we share is grounded in helping people use DBT skills in real-life school and home settings, with an emphasis on being practical and easy to apply. We’ve heard from both educators and parents that they find the posts helpful, which reinforces our goal of creating shared, skill-based language across school and home environments. We think of our social media posts much like posters on classroom walls—when students and adults see the same messages repeatedly, the ideas start to stick. By posting daily, we aim to keep DBT skills present in people’s lives as gentle, ongoing reminders to practice and teach them.
Thank you so much! Now that the book is out, is there a project that you are excited to work on next (a presentation, a workshop, writing another book, etc.)?
Yes! Now that this book is out, we’re shifting our attention back to a parenting book we began about five years ago. Between the pandemic, remote school and work, completing the DBT STEPS-E curriculum, and parenting our own three kids, that project had to be put on hold. We’re excited to return to it now—it’s already about two-thirds complete—and to offer another practical, supportive resource for parents and children.
See all titles by and read more about James J. Mazza and Elizabeth T. Dexter-Mazza on their authors pages!
