Now Providing DBT treatment to adults and Teens!
About Us
Annie Florin, LCSW
Founder & Clinical Lead
(406) 201-8380
Annie Florin has been a licensed clinical social worker since 2016. She started working in children’s mental health as a special education teacher in a day treatment program in San Francisco in 2003. She completed her Master of Social Work degree at the University of Montana in 2016. She’s worked in schools, community mental health, outpatient psychiatry clinics, and acute psychiatric inpatient for adolescents.
Annie’s theoretical orientation is woven together from attachment theory, systems theory, feminism, and trauma. Her approach is client-centered and strengths-based. Her therapeutic modalities include psychodynamic therapy, DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
DBT for adolescents is Annie’s passion because it integrates attachment, family systems, self-empowerment, and behavior change. And because teenagers show up to life with an authenticity that’s energizing to her.
Outside of work she is a deep thinker & feeler, a wife, and a mother. She likes to go to bed early, get her hands dirty in her gardens, trail run with her lab/pit mix, Pepper, and embarrass her children with too much affection and “bad” jokes (they’re actually pretty decent jokes).
DBT trainings:
● 2018, DBT Certificate Course - 2-day Intensive Training w/ John E. Lothes, MA, LPA, LCAS-A (via PESI). 12.5 CE hours.
● 2020, DBT Skills for Adolescents/Families with Elizabeth LoTempio, PsyD and Jared Michonski, PhD of Treatment Implementation Collaborative. 14 CE hours.
● 2020, Back into the Book: Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder by Marcia Linehan: A Book Study with Shari Manning, PhD. via Treatment Implementation Collaborative. 15 CE hours.
● 2021, DBT Foundational via Behavioral Tech. 33 CE hours.
● 2022, DBT Skills for Adolescents and Families via Behavioral Tech. 12 CE hours.
● 2022, DBT with Reactive or High Conflict Couples with Alan Fruzzetti, PhD. 9.5 CE hours.
● 2025, DBT PE with Melanie Harned, PhD, ABPP, 26 CE hours.
Kaitlin Spencer, LCSW
Clinical Therapist
(406) 201-8331
Kate Spencer received her Master in Social Work degree in 2022 from Walla Walla University. She started her career in the mental health field in 2014 where she utilized attachment and behavioral modification strategies at a therapeutic group home serving teenagers. She then transitioned to working with adults in an intensive outpatient program providing case management and stabilization services. Prior to coming to Montana DBT Associates full-time, Kate provided therapeutic services to children in elementary school settings.
Kate has completed Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training through the Behavioral Tech Institute. Kate has been co-facilitating adult and teen DBT skills groups since 2021.
Kate is committed to providing evidence-based treatments to ensure she is providing the most effective care for her clients. She approaches treatment by ensuring a mutual relationship is formed between her and her client. Laying this groundwork is vital for behavior change. She utilizes a solutions-focused lens where she and the client are focused on cognitive and behavioral change to reach the client's identified goals.
You will find Kate with her hound dog enjoying Missoula's trails and rivers. Being on any body of water is her happy place. She also enjoys starting books and not finishing them.
Elizabeth Bassler, LCSW
Clinical Therapist
(406) 201-8391
Liz (she/her) has been a mental health therapist since 2015 and became licensed as a clinical social worker in 2018. Liz started her career working with women affected by substance use and then transitioned to supporting children in the school system. Slowly, she found her niche working with adults.
Over the years, Liz has been trained in multiple modalities (including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR; the Trauma Resiliency Model; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to focus on trauma symptom reduction and stabilization. She has come to understand that trauma often disrupts the opportunity to develop essential skills for emotion regulation and healthy relationships. Her recent pursuit of learning the DBT model helps to fill that gap. Liz is currently participating in the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training through the Behavioral Tech Institute.
Liz has a reputation for being kind, compassionate, and assertive. She's honest and authentic in sessions and loves to make use of a whiteboard. If you're a visual or kinesthetic learner, you'll love Liz's approach to therapy.
When she's not at work, you'll find Liz mountain biking, walking her elderly labrador, skiing, or reading books. She's also easily persuaded to eat pizza and watch home-remodeling television.
Influential Trainings:
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training
EMDR (I and II)
- Trauma Resiliency Model (I and II)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Community Resiliency Model
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Internal Family Systems (informed)
- Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Kelsey McFarland, LCSW
Clinical Therapist, DBT Skills Training group facilitator
Kelsey (she/her) has been a mental health therapist for nearly five years and was licensed as a clinical social worker in 2021. She graduated from The University of Nebraska in Omaha, with a Master of Social Work degree from the Grace Abbott School of Social Work. Kelsey has completed Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training and DBT Skills for Adolescents and Families Training through the Behavioral Tech Institute.
Kelsey has worked with children and families since 2008 in a variety of settings, including Missoula's Children's Museum and Families First. She's worked globally and nationally at schools, children's shelters, day rehabilitation centers, hospitals and inpatient settings.
Kelsey has found that DBT is a wonderful modality to not only teach and practice with clients but to utilize the skills and live by the balance of acceptance and change in her own life.
As a clinician, she takes a warm, directive, and authentic approach to create a safe and supportive environment that invites clients to build insight and achieve balance.
In her free time she finds relaxation being in or around nature, reading, crocheting, learning how to paint with watercolor, and spending time with her friends and family.