Walking Between: DBT & Art Therapy Series

This introductory workshop series combines Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills and art experientials for comprehensive, ‘bottom-up’ learning. It is offered in a four-part series, with no prerequisites to register for any of the series parts; take one, take a few, or take all four. Each part is four weeks.

• Part One: Core Mindfulness, Oct. 7th-28th, 2025 
• Part Two: Interpersonal effectiveness, Nov. 18th-Dec. 9th, 2025 
• Part Three: Distress Tolerance, Jan. 13th-Feb. 3rd, 2026 
• Part Four: Emotion Regulation, Feb. 24th-March 17th, 2026

🎓 Register for the whole series and use these workshops to fulfill the 30-hour admission requirement for enrollment in the online hybrid format of the KATI diploma program.

Workshop fee

$495/workshop 

A 10% discount is offered for participants who sign up for all four parts (prior to the first part beginning). All prices are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

For each workshop in our intro series we reserve one seat, 50% for a BIPOC registrant planning to attend the KATI diploma program and has started an application. Click Register for the workshop of your choice to claim the seat, if still available.

Who is this Workshop Series For?

This workshop series will offer both personal and professional development through experiential learning. Designed for both individuals who are seeking to increase their wellness skills through a creative, dialectical approach, as well as students, mental health professionals, and others supporting clients in wellness. Although it is not offered as certification in either art therapy, nor DBT skills, it will provide participants with building their own wellness skills, as well as provide an idea of how powerful the combination of art therapy and DBT skills training can be. Participants can then take this into further certification work, if they so desire.

Why is this Workshop Important?

Emotion and behavioural dysregulation are common barriers to wellness across populations. Emotional sensitivity combined with an invalidating social environment creates folks who struggle with healthy and lasting relationships, self awareness and emotional intelligence, emotional and behavioural regulation, and capacity to create a life they feel is ‘worth living’. Taking a trauma informed, compassionate lens to these struggles, DBT and art experientials help build strength-based, pragmatic skills to assist in these areas, as well as increase self-esteem and a positive self-relationship.

What to bring?

A journal and art supplies of your choosing. A list of required and suggested art materials will be provided a week before class. Low cost, up-cycled/recycled materials are encouraged.

Where Will This Workshop Be Offered?

This workshop can be accessed worldwide online via Zoom. English is required. Workshop materials will also be available through Google Classroom.

Professional Development Self-Study Credits:

A certificate of completion will be offered to those who attend all workshop sessions they sign up for; recordings will not be available, so if a participant needs to miss, make-up arrangements will be needed to gain the certificate of completion.

Four Part Series:

Although Core Mindfulness (Part One) is encouraged to complete first, it is not required, and participants may sign up for the skills they are most interested in. A discount is offered for those who sign up for all four parts (must register for all four at one time). Each part is four weeks, 5:30pm-7:30pm Pacific Time

Part One: Core Mindfulness, Oct. 7th-28th, 2025 Part Two: Interpersonal effectiveness, Nov. 18th-Dec. 9th, 2025 Part Three: Distress Tolerance, Jan. 13th-Feb. 3rd, 2026 Part Four: Emotion Regulation, Feb. 24th-March 17th, 2026

In each workshop you will be introduced to the theory (including handouts to be read between classes) and then have a minimum of 45 minutes to explore it via an art directive and reflective questions. This combination provides a deeply meaningful understanding of the skills in a personal and professional capacity, as well as provides lasting artifacts that often continue to unfold long after the course is completed.

Part One: Core Mindfulness, Oct. 7-Oct. 28th, 2025

In this four-week intensive, you will explore and experience the Core Mindfulness skills of DBT through art and reflections. These essential skills assist you in building a foundational understanding around the practice of mindfulness, and how it is the pathway to creating a meaningful and enjoyable life.

Part Two: Interpersonal Effectiveness, Nov. 18-Dec. 9th, 2025

In this four-week intensive, you will explore and experience Interpersonal Effectiveness skills of DBT through art and reflections. These skills assist in understanding, building, and maintaining healthy relationships in all parts of life. They enable us to resolve conflict when it occurs and get our and others’ relational needs met effectively in a balanced manner.

Part Three: Distress Tolerance, Jan. 13th-Feb. 3rd, 2026

In this four-week intensive, you will explore and experience Distress Tolerance skills of DBT through art and reflections. These skills provide ways in which we can tolerate a crisis to move through it, rather than make it worse. Every person experiences moments of emotional intensity and pain; learning how to cope with these experiences in adaptive ways helps us stay true to our values, goals, priorities and life vision.

Part Four: Emotion Regulation, Feb. 24th-March 17th, 2026

In this four-week intensive, you will explore and experience Emotion Regulation skills of DBT through art and reflections. Intense and dysregulated emotions sometimes short-circuit their purposes and can be painful and lead to ineffective behavior. Emotion Regulation skills allow you to lower vulnerability, grow capacity for balance in your emotional experience, and build your emotional intelligence. 

Facilitator Bio

Nikki Featherstone (BAACS, DKATI, RCAT) is a professionally trained Art Psychotherapist, Art Therapy Supervisor, and Reiki II practitioner; she holds the designation of Registered Canadian Art Therapist (RCAT #248-R-19) with the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA). She is a Counselling Therapist member with the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta (#1375), and has additional training in dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), grief & loss, animist psychology, depth & transpersonal psychology, eco-therapy, narrative therapy, and a lifetime of study in spiritual integrations of Soul Work. Her approach to healing is wholistic, feminist, anti-oppressive, person centered, trauma informed, and spiritually integrated.

Nikki enjoys lifelong passions for art, healing, spirituality, cats, trees, and the sacredness of the everyday. She specializes in including the spiritual components of the human experience and welcomes all faiths and/or spiritual traditions.