EQUILIO: Accessible Effective Therapy

26. May 2026

Article Opportunities

Borderline personality disorder is one of the most common personality disorders. Its defining feature is extreme emotional intensity and a reduced ability to regulate those emotions – which affects thinking, behaviour and relationships. Patients often seek relief through self-harm, which can escalate to suicide attempts. Effective therapy exists. The problem is access: across the Czech Republic, there are roughly ten DBT teams, most of them in Bohemia. For Moravia, Equilio in Brno is the only one.

Vision

Martin Horký and Pavla Horká Linhartová want dialectical behaviour therapy to be genuinely accessible in the Czech Republic – for patients, professionals and organisations. More therapists alone are not enough. The goal is a broader shift: educating specialists, reducing stigma and supporting the people around patients too.

Gamechanger

DBT – dialectical behaviour therapy – is one of the most thoroughly researched approaches for working with emotional dysregulation, impulsive behaviour and self-harm. It is built on a concrete set of skills: emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance. Skills that can be taught and applied across many different contexts – not only in therapy. Equilio is the first Czech educational institute focused on DBT and a spin-off of Masaryk University. Martin and Pavla are both practising DBT therapists. Their programme is able to stabilise patients within six months. They train professionals across healthcare, social work and education in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Who is it for?

For professionals in medicine, social work and related fields who want to deepen their knowledge of DBT and bring it into their practice. And for companies that want to build a healthier and more effective workplace through DBT skills training for their teams.

What has worked so far?

Equilio trains professionals across the Czech Republic and Slovakia and collaborates with specialist institutions at home and across Europe. DBT was introduced at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Hospital Brno, where the programme is running. The team is also actively involved in DBT research.

Interested in DBT training for your team or institution? Want to collaborate on creating professional content or bringing DBT into practice? Get in touch with Martin and Pavla.

Connect with the team