Dr. Cleto's journey with the SIMPLE course began with his need to understand himself, heal, and grow. Faced with a field crowded with competing schools of therapy, each claiming to hold the answer, he set out to find what actually works across these models. He stripped away the jargon and translated what remained into a common language — simple enough to use in real life, on a hard day, in real time.
The result is SIMPLE — a synthesis of DBT, Internal Family Systems, attachment and trauma theories, developmental psychology and much more. SIMPLE is a coherent, teachable path toward emotional regulation and a life worth living. This manual is a companion to the 33-week course, refined by the contributions of hundreds of participants and the many co-leaders who have shaped it since 1996. It is both a clinical guide and a personal record — what one psychiatrist needed to learn himself, distilled so others won't have to search as long as he did.