Partner · Therapist bio
Dr. Jill Rathus
Partner & Co-Director
Dr. Rathus developed DBT for Adolescents. Today, clinicians around the world learn it from her.
- Co-developer of DBT-A with Alec Miller & Marsha Linehan
- Board certified in DBT
- Co-Chair, Treatment Integrity Committee, World DBT Association
- Tenured faculty, LIU Post
- DBT-AShe co-developed it, with Alec Miller and Marsha Linehan
- 6books, from DBT for teens to couples therapy
- Thousandsof clinicians trained in the US and abroad
- 2016Cindy Sanderson Outstanding Educator Award, ISITDBT
Her books
A new edition of DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents is coming December 1, 2026.
Her work in our practice
The DBT your teen gets here starts with her
Our DBT program for teens and families is built on the adolescent and family version of DBT that Dr. Rathus developed with Dr. Alec Miller and Dr. Marsha Linehan. That includes Walking the Middle Path, the skills module that helps teens and parents step out of black-and-white thinking and argue less at home.
When your family comes to CBA for DBT, you're working with the practice Dr. Rathus co-founded and still co-directs.
“These courses were built around a simple but demanding standard: when clinicians complete this training, they should be able to fully understand this complex treatment, and sit down with a family and begin delivering it. That guided every decision we made about how to teach it.”Dr. Jill Rathus
Partner · Therapist bio
About Dr. Jill Rathus
Partner & Co-Director
Dr. Rathus, co-founder and co-director of Cognitive Behavioral Associates, is an internationally recognized DBT & CBT expert working with both youth & adults. Dr. Rathus with Alec Miller and Marsha Linehan developed the adolescent/family adaptation of DBT, including its Walking the Middle Path skills module. Her books DBT with Suicidal Adolescents and DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents are the primary texts for Dialectical Behavior Therapy with teens and families. A fully revised second edition, DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents, comes out from Guilford on December 1, 2026, along with a companion workbook.
As a tenured faculty member at Long Island University-Post Campus, her areas of specialty include assessment evaluations, relationship distress, depression, anxiety disorders, writing coaching & writing anxiety, PTSD, suicidality, and borderline personality disorder, and she publishes widely in these areas in books & peer-reviewed journals.
She has also authored books on topics including couples therapy, assessment of family violence, and adapting DBT for school settings. In 2016 she was honored to receive the Cindy Sanderson Outstanding Educator Award from the International Society of Education and Training in DBT (ISITDBT).
Dr. Rathus graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in English, received her M.A. in psychology and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Stony Brook University, and completed her clinical internship at Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Rathus has trained thousands of mental health professionals in both the US and abroad.
Dr. Rathus is board certified in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification. She is also affiliated with the Shanghai Mental Health Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and serves as Co-Chair of the Treatment Integrity Committee of the World DBT Association.
Milestones
Her path in brief
- Education
B.A. in English, Cornell University. M.A. and Ph.D., Stony Brook University. Internship at Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein College of Medicine.
- DBT-A
Developed the adolescent and family version of DBT with Alec Miller and Marsha Linehan.
- CBA
Co-founded Cognitive Behavioral Associates, where she is co-director.
- 2016
Cindy Sanderson Outstanding Educator Award, ISITDBT.
- Dec 1, 2026
New edition of DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents from Guilford.
Work with our team
Looking for DBT for your teen, your family, or yourself? Or want to learn DBT-A from the people who built it?
Books by Dr. Rathus
DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents by Jill Rathus & Alec Miller (The Guilford Press)
Dr. Jill Rathus and colleagues developed the adolescent/family version of DBT.
DBT with Suicidal Adolescents by Alec Miller, Jill Rathus, & Marsha Linehan (The Guilford Press)
Drs. DeRosa and Rathus are expertly skilled clinicians, who have been providing DBT & CBT for over 20 years. They have published widely & train & lecture on DBT & related topics around the globe.
DBT Skills in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT STEPS-A) by James Mazza, Elizabeth Dexter-Mazza, Alec Miller, Jill Rathus, & Heather Murphy (The Guilford Press)
Marital Distress: Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Couples by Jill Rathus & Bill Sanderson
Assessment of Partner Violence by Jill Rathus & Eva Feindler
Assessment of Family Violence by Eva Feindler, Jill Rathus, & Laura Silver
Peer-Reviewed Articles and Chapters
Rathus, J.H., Wagner, D., & Miller, A.L. Self-report assessment of emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, interpersonal chaos, and confusion about self: Development and psychometric eval. of the Life Problems Inventory. (Manuscript in preparation).
Miller, A.L., Rathus, J.H., & DeBose (in press). Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents: Adapting treatment across settings. In K. Keorner and L. DiMeff (Eds.) Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Applications Across New Modes and Settings. Guilford Press.
Rathus, J.H., Meyer, S.L., & O’Leary. (Under revision). Attachment, proximity control, and wife abuse. Journal of Family Violence.
Rathus, J.H. (2006). Dialectical behavior therapy for anger-related disorders. In E. Feindler (Ed.) Anger-Related Disorders: A practitioner’s guide to comparative treatments (pp. 139-164). NY: Springer Publishing.
Rathus, J.H., Cavuoto, N., & Passarelli, V. (2006) DBT: A mindfulness-based treatment for intimate partner violence. In R. Baer (Ed.) Mindfulness-based Treatment Approaches: Clinician’s Guide to Evidence Base and Applications (pp. 333-358). Boston: Academic Press.
Wagner, E., Rathus, J.H., & Miller, A.L. (2006). Mindfulness in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for adolescents. In R. Baer (Ed.) Mindfulness-based Treatment Approaches Clinician’s Guide to Evidence Base and Applications (pp. 167-189). Boston: Academic Press.
Miller, A.L., Wagner, E., & Rathus, J.H. (2004). Dialectical behavior therapy for suicidal adolescents: An overview. In H. Steiner & C. Remy (Eds.) Handbook of Mental Health Interventions in Children and Adolescents (pp.659-684). Jossey-Bass.
Rathus, J.H., & Miller, A.L. (2002). Dialectical behavior therapy adapted for suicidal adolescents. Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior, 32,146-157.