A Trauma-Informed DBT Inspired Guide to Renew the Mind & Spirit
Date Published: April 21, 2026
Publisher: Lucid Books Publishing
overwhelmed by anxiety, shame, trauma, or emotions that seem too heavy, too
human, or too unholy? Do you ever feel at conflict between your therapy and
theology?
The Mind-Spirit Bible Practice was written for you.
In these pages, author and mental health advocate Nicole Doña bridges
the gap between faith and psychology—showing how Scripture and
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) can work together to bring emotional and
spiritual wholeness. Drawing from her own story of healing and resilience, she
offers practical tools and biblical insight to help you regulate emotions
through grace, find God’s presence in your pain, and live from
“the mind of the Spirit” (Romans 8:6).
Whether you’re a believer, clinician, or ministry leader, this book is a
resource for experiencing lasting healing—where emotional health and
spiritual transformation finally become one.
EXCERPT
I still remember the taste of that morning—oatmeal, coffee, and fear.
It was March 2015, my first day returning to work after six months on disability. I had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My first boyfriend since becoming a Christian—the one I trusted enough to tell—broke up with me over text when I shared my diagnosis. My psychiatrist was exploring different cocktails of medications that left me dizzy, sleepless, and hollow. I’d been laid off from a job I loved, creating youth-leadership programs for teens and young adults with trauma and schizophrenia. During those months, I sank into the couch and into despair, binge-watching The Walking Dead until I felt like a zombie myself.
When I finally accepted a temporary job at a real-estate firm—far from the purpose-filled career I’d hoped for—I thought I was starting over. But as I sat on my red couch that morning, oatmeal bowl in hand, I realized I was still just trying to survive.
My roommate slept, and her tiny chihuahua, “Coco,” snored on the floor. Everything looked peaceful. But inside, it was war.
“You’re disgusting.”
“No man will ever want you.”
“You used to be strong, now you’re weak.”
“God’s disappointed in you.”
The accusations came like waves until I could hardly breathe. My chest tightened, my legs buzzed with energy, my mind screamed RUN, though there was nowhere to go. I was sitting in safety, but my body and mind believed I was in danger. After all, wherever I could run, my mind would follow.
That’s when I began to understand: I wasn’t just battling a diagnosis. I was battling a divided mind.
One part—the Mind of the Flesh—was ruled by emotion without truth: shame, fear, and self-loathing disguised as repentance. Another—the voice of Worldly Wisdom—was ruled by logic without grace: perfectionism, control, and the illusion that if I could just understand myself, I could fix myself. And somewhere beneath both was a whisper I hadn’t yet learned to trust—the Mind of the Spirit—quiet but steady, saying, “Breathe. You are still here. I have not given up on you.”
At that time, I didn’t know how to describe these three voices. I just knew my mind was constantly at war with itself. Yet even in that chaos, I kept reaching for my Bible. I couldn’t always feel God in the words, but I knew I needed them like oxygen.
Every morning, I opened Scripture even when my heart felt numb, and my thoughts screamed louder than the gentle whispers of God’s Word. Sometimes I read only a few verses before I broke down crying. Other times, I clung to one line—reading it over and over and struggling to believe it.
The Bible wasn’t a comfort at first; it was an anchor. It didn’t stop the storm, but it kept me from floating away.
During that same season, I also began doing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) modules once a week. Eventually, I would complete all of them over the course of 18 months. DBT gave me practical tools to help me observe, name, and navigate the emotional chaos I lived in daily.
One skill stood out above the rest: the concept of Wise Mind—the balanced place between Emotion Mind and Reason Mind, where both truth and feeling can coexist.
At first, I didn’t realize it, but what DBT called Wise Mind mirrored what Scripture was teaching me about the Mind of the Spirit. Both invited me to pause between reaction and response, to breathe, to notice, and to let truth—not fear—be my guide. Both taught me that peace wasn’t found in suppressing emotion or mastering logic, but in integrating them under something higher—what DBT called “wisdom,” and what the Bible called “the Spirit of Truth.”
About the Author
Nicole Doña is a Christian author, nonprofit founder, and mental-health
advocate passionate about integrating faith and psychology for emotional
healing. She is the author of The Mind-Spirit Bible Practice—a
groundbreaking guide that bridges Scripture and Dialectical Behavior Therapy
(DBT) to bring emotional and spiritual wholeness to believers, clinicians, and
ministries alike. A brain tumor survivor, wife, and foster mom, Nicole writes
from lived experience, weaving neuroscience, trauma recovery, and biblical
wisdom into a practical framework for transformation. She has led policy
reforms in San Francisco for system-involved youth, advanced statewide
mental-health reforms across California, and collaborated with global
brain-health leaders through the University of California, San Francisco. In
2015, she received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco City &
County Board of Supervisors for her contributions to mental-health policy and
advocacy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Josh.
Instagram: @mindspiritbiblepractice
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