This training is for new teams wishing to set up and implement a DBT program. Applications must be for 4 to 8 people.
Intensive Training™ is designed for training teams of mental health professionals who intend to provide a comprehensive Dialectical Behaviour Therapy programme within their clinical service. Teams applying for Intensive TrainingTM must have a minimum size of 4 team members (in this case we recommend that you select a 5th team member as a backup) and a maximum of 8.
Intensive training has several components. These are as follows:
Preparation
- Guided self-study of DBT manuals and other required readings o Learning Communities (optional)
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 developing 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).
Practice improvement:
- Part 2: Five days of in-person instructor-led consultation on your specific program and cases, including protocols for specific treatment problems and adaptations of DBT.
The requirements for the team and for individuals for Intensive TrainingTM are listed below:
Each team:
1) Requires either a qualified clinical / counselling / forensic psychologist OR a person with demonstrable graduate training in behaviour therapy. The rationale for this requirement is that there is evidence from the DBT literature that of a range of different predictors (gender, years of clinical experience, number of previous DBT cases, therapist burnout, prior training in behavioural therapy and / or assessment) the only significant predictor of DBT adherence was whether therapists had graduate training in the theory and application of learning theory and behavioural psychology. If you do not have a team member with a graduate qualification in clinical, counselling or forensic psychology then you must demonstrate who on the team has these skills and how they acquired them.
2) All teams MUST be genuine teams i.e. you either are already or have explicit plans to meet together to deliver a comprehensive DBT programme to a group of clients in a single setting e.g. out-patient adult clients. If you intend to treat more than one client group e.g. adults and adolescents or in more than one setting e.g. inpatient and outpatient you need to train staff for two separate programmes. The training assumes that you are all committed to developing and delivering a DBT service as part of training and beyond.
3) Must have a member, ideally in addition to the person named in (1), who has training and experience of delivering psychological therapies.
Each individual team member:
1) Must be employed by a healthcare organisation that expects them to be seeing clients
2) 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.
3) Must commit 15 hours per week to learning and delivering DBT. To begin with these hours will mainly consist of training but we expect that shortly after Part I applicants will start seeing patients within the programme. As an indicator a team of 4 providing 15 hours per week can deliver a comprehensive programme (Skills Groups, Individual Therapy, Telephone Consultation & Consultation Team) for up to 16 patients.