Joaquim Soler, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, combining academic teaching with clinical work at Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. Chair of the WDBTA Scientific Committee. “For me, academic and clinical work have always been deeply intertwined” says Joaquim. His passion lies in DBT skills training, mindfulness, and compassion-based practices, with a focus on how cognitive fusion and dialectical thinking shape human suffering and change.

His DBT journey began in the late 1990s, when designing one of Spain’s first BPD studies led him to intensive DBT training in the USA. Reflecting on that experience, Joaquim says, “Mindfulness, dialectical thinking, and validation were the concepts that most attracted my attention.” With over 140 publications, he still emphasizes the practical heart of DBT: “Skills training is not psychoeducation—it only becomes DBT when taught within its core principles.”