Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Research Scholarships - Master's program

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious mental health condition marked by difficulty regulating emotions, impulsivity, and instability in relationships and self-image. Currently, the most effective treatment for BPD is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), which teaches coping strategies to manage distress and improve stability. A key part of DBT is telephone coaching, where clinicians provide real-time guidance when patients experience sudden emotional distress. Although this support is clinically important, it places heavy demands on therapists and is not always available when patients need it. Digital mental health tools offer a promising way to deliver support during these high-intensity emotional moments. This project will examine whether a mobile app, AmDTx, can deliver brief, evidence-based DBT skills at the exact moment someone is in crisis. Instead of replacing therapy, these micro-interventions are intended to act as an immediate, accessible supplement when distress occurs. The app also collects short, frequent check-ins about mood, emotions, and stress levels throughout the day, allowing intervention delivery to be more closely aligned with a person's real-time emotional state. This study will determine whether young adults find this type of just-in-time digital support helpful, easy to use, and feasible to engage with over four weeks. It will also test whether using these tools during emotionally intense moments leads to improvements in emotion regulation. If successful, this approach could expand access to DBT-informed support, reduce reliance on therapist phone coaching, and provide a scalable way to help individuals manage acute distress while they wait for or participate in therapy.