Regulating the Inner You: A Photographic and Poetic Twist on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Skills

Spinning like a top-that's sometimes how I feel.

And then what do you do with these feelings? How do you slow down-or, better yet, stop? With stress only compounding in our modern age, we need innovative coping techniques, ones we can return to again and again. Author Jessica McLeod understands this need more than most. She's been there. But after incorporating dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) into her own life, Jessica found herself on a new path, one towards personal transformation. Now she's written Regulating the Inner You: A Photographic and Poetic Twist on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Skills to help readers do the same.

This self-help guide is a creative exploration of the four principles of DBT: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance. From practical strategies to affirmations and coping kits, this guide offers techniques to improve mental health and quality of life. Learn how to shift from a negative, judgmental mindset to a positive, accepting perspective.

Inventive and individual, Regulating the Inner You isn't the average DBT textbook or self-help manual. It blends cognitive restructuring skills with poetry and photography to show a more creative way to self-manage. And once we learn how to spin with control and intention, don't all other transformations feel possible?

Jessica McLeod is an Indigenous youth care worker. She has an education assistant diploma, a professional counsellor diploma, and a certificate in addictions. She was also awarded the Comprehensive Examination Award in 2018 for demonstrating a high level of practical knowledge during her time in Vancouver College of Counsellor Training.

In her spare time, Jessica enjoys learning more about DBT skills and implementing them into her life. Her studies and personal journey inspired her to write Regulating the Inner You: A Photographic and Poetic Twist on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Skills. This is her first book.

When she's not studying and writing, Jessica enjoys being in nature and spending time with her kids. She lives in Fort St. John, British Columbia, with her three children and their pets.