Paul Holmes

He has wide-ranging experience working with multi-problem client populations and has provided Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) services since 1994. Over the course of two years (1995-96), he received extensive clinical training in DBT from the Linehan Training Group as well as instruction in training other clinicians.

Over the past decade, Dr. Holmes has developed a modified version of DBT. Contextually-focused dialectical behavior therapy (C-DBT) is the culmination of work done at EMP to conceptualize DBT from a contextual rather than cognitive perspective, and utilizes functionality rather than rationality as its outcome criteria. This approach to DBT relies on the work of several contemporary theorists to re-orient clinical interventions from a focus on behaviors to that of behavioral processes (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2012). In contrast to DBT which emphasizes skills, protocols and facts, C-DBT focuses on process, function and workability. The aim is to assist participants in transitioning from making their life about their past and their problems to living their life in relation to their values and future aspirations.

Dr. Holmes continues to train developing professionals in both academic and community settings. He is full-time Senior Lecturer at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice at the University of Chicago.