This training is for individuals who have been newly appointed to an existing DBT program.
Foundational Training consists of three parts. These are as follows:
Preparation
Guided self-study of DBT manuals and other required readings o Attendance at your DBT programme Consultation Team
Instruction
Part 1: Five days of in-person instructor-led lectures, demonstrations, and small group exercises used to teach DBT theory and strategies in-depth
Implementation
Several months of learning and delivering your DBT programme and honing DBT clinical skills guided by a series of homework assignments provided at Part I (including a self-study exam).
Submission of your case report and homework sheet to your team leader for sign-off (your team lead then notifies the office that you have completed the homework, and you will then receive your certificate of completion).
Each applicant:
- Must be employed by a healthcare organisation that expects them to be seeing clients.
- Must be registered to practice with a regulatory professional body e.g.
Health Professions Council,
General Medical Council,
Nursing & Midwifery Council,
Professional Standards Authority.
If a person does not have a core profession they can apply if they have a relevant masters’ degree AND they meet the following criteria:
a) They are employed specifically to deliver psychological therapies.
b) They have a permanent contract
c) They have at least a year of experience in delivering treatments.
d) Their psychological role is specified in their job title, e.g. Assistant Psychologist, Psychological Practitioner, Assistant Psychological Therapist, Counsellor, Therapist, Wellbeing Practitioner, Trainee Psychologist, Groupwork Practitioner etc.
Please note we do not accept support workers, healthcare assistants, or people with only a basic psychology degree.
Even if meeting this non-professional criteria, the assessors may turn down an applicant. This might be because they deem them to have insufficient experience to work with severely suicidal self-harming clients.
The assessor’s decision is final. Applicants who do not get onto training at the first try are welcome to reapply when they gain the necessary experience or qualification.
Must commit 15 hours per week to learning and delivering DBT.
Must be part of a DBT team that is delivering a comprehensive programme with a team leader with sufficient training & experience to be able to sign off the homework assignments i.e. has received Intensive Training™
For teams that have lost substantial numbers of Intensively Trained staff we will encourage the following:
- Sending Foundation team members as a team (minimum 3 members) to a Part II (availability permitting) or to the DBT Upgrade training.
- Sending a second team (minimum 3) on Intensive Training™
- Sending Foundation team members to Post-Intensive Training e.g. Advanced Class workshop