Who we are
The therapists with DBT Associates of Austin all have extensive and long term experience in the mental health field and in providing DBT services to the Austin community.
Most of them actually all met and worked together at the former Seton Shoal Creek Hospital where they provided DBT and CBT intensive outpatient group therapy and superior crisis management to adolescents, adults, and senior adults for mental health treatment before forming the DBT Associates of Austin Consultation team. They have been friends and colleagues for decades. They are a tight-knit team where they not only provide consultation for each other, but collaboration and support. This helps them to provide high level quality of care and effective treatment to clients they provide for.
All of the therapists bring in their unique skill set, background, and expertise to provide quality care, reliable coaching, and provide their clients with strong DBT knowledge and skills to help their clients build a life worth living.
Meet the team
Penny Kruger, LCSW-S
Penny Kruger is the founding member and team leader of DBT Associates of Austin. She is a clinician, educator, supervisor, and program developer with more than 30 years of clinical social-work experience. She is intensively trained in both standard Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Radically Open DBT, giving her expertise in treating both undercontrolled patterns—such as impulsivity and emotional volatility—and overcontrolled patterns such as rigidity, perfectionism, emotional inhibition, and social isolation. In 2006, she founded Austin’s first adult DBT intensive outpatient program at Ascension Seton Behavioral Health. Penny is recognized for combining deep clinical expertise with compassionate, practical care.
Candace Smith, LCSW
Candace Smith is a founding member of DBT Associates of Austin. Her DBT specialty centers on helping adolescents and adults who feel controlled by intense emotions or caught in recurring behavioral and relationship patterns. Her work particularly addresses emotional dysregulation, impulsive or self-defeating behaviors, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and broader emotional distress. In relationships, she helps individuals identify what they want and need, express those needs more effectively, and feel more secure and connected. Her women’s DBT groups specifically address intense emotions, addictive or impulsive behaviors, and painful life stressors.
Jennifer Wu, LCSW
Jennifer Wu has been a founding team member of DBT Associates of Austin since 2007 and has over 25 years in the mental health field providing group therapy. She specializes in helping adults develop practical skills to manage intense emotions, anxiety, impulsive behaviors, trauma-related distress, and relationship difficulties. With more than 18 years of experience leading multiple DBT groups in her private practice, she is known for making the DBT skills training group the central focus of treatment. Jennifer also provides DBT Advanced Groups for graduates seeking continued growth and relapse prevention, as well as Radically Open DBT for clients struggling with perfectionism, avoidance, rigid thinking, and excessive self-control. Her structured and solution-focused approach helps clients move beyond insight alone and confidently apply new coping skills in everyday life.
Danielle Kaplan, LCSW-S
Danielle J. Kaplan specializes in Dialectical Behavior Therapy for adults and senior adults experiencing anxiety, depression, intense emotions, impulsive behaviors, trauma, and relationship difficulties. An experienced DBT skills trainer, she teaches practical strategies for managing distress, regulating emotions, and responding more effectively to life’s challenges. Danielle has advanced training in DBT Prolonged Exposure and brings experience from intensive outpatient and psychiatric inpatient settings. Known for her straightforward, transparent, and supportive style, she combines evidence-based treatment with warmth, humor, and genuine curiosity. Her goal is to help clients feel more centered, confident, and capable of becoming their own most effective problem-solvers.
Chelsea Cohen, LPC-S
Chelsea Cohen specializes in comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy for adults struggling with intense emotions, anxiety, mood disorders, impulsive behaviors, substance use, eating disorders, and relationship difficulties. With more than a decade of experience providing DBT across multiple levels of care, she helps clients develop practical skills for regulating emotions, tolerating distress, improving relationships, and creating lasting behavioral change. As an experienced supervisor and clinical leader, she also trains therapists to provide effective, evidence-based DBT. Her collaborative approach helps clients use coping skills confidently and build lives that feel meaningful and worth living.
Nicole Lansbury, LPC-S, LMFT
Nicole Lansbery is an experienced DBT therapist and clinical leader. She specializes in helping adolescents and adults manage depression, anxiety, trauma, intense emotions, impulsive behaviors, substance use, self-harm, and relationship difficulties. With experience in psychiatric inpatient, intensive outpatient, and private-practice settings, Nicole brings a high level of expertise to clients with complex clinical needs. She is also trained in Radically Open DBT, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, attachment-based therapy, and couples and family treatment. Known for her comprehensive and integrative approach, she helps clients develop practical skills, strengthen relationships, and create lasting emotional and behavioral change.
Shana Alexander, LPC-S, PMHNP-BC
Shana Alexander is the newest team member of DBT Associates of Austin and is an experienced DBT clinician and board-certified psychiatric mental-health nurse practitioner who provides integrated therapy and medication management. With more than a decade of experience practicing DBT in individual, couples, family, group, and community settings, she helps clients manage intense emotions, mood and anxiety disorders, impulsive behaviors, substance use, anger, and relationship difficulties. Shana is especially known for bringing psychiatric and therapeutic care together into one coordinated, individualized treatment approach. Her collaborative style helps clients build stability, recognize their strengths, and develop a treatment path that reflects their unique needs and goals.