Faculty
Behavioral Tech Institute prides itself in providing the highest quality training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy available. We can only offer this to you by providing the most experienced and trainers & consultants in the field of DBT. We honor each one of these individuals for their efforts and dedication to DBT and other empirically-based treatments.
Amman, Jordan
Basma Kilani, PhD, M.A., DBT-LBC, is a Linehan Institute certified clinician, and a leading force in the dissemination of DBT across the Middle East and North Africa.
Based in Amman, Jordan, she is the Founder and Chief Specialist at the Maria Den Braven Mental Health Center. There she leads multidisciplinary teams providing evidence‑based treatment for complex trauma, including conditions arising from the impact of war. She is known to both comfort and inspire her team at times of intense stress, and for steering a steady ship in the most difficult of circumstances.
Dr Kilani is the Managing Director of DBT‑MENA, and has played a central role in establishing DBT infrastructure, training pathways, and clinical standards across multiple countries. She began her DBT journey in 2008 as a graduate student at the University of Jordan, since then gaining in expertise and recognition. In 2019, she was appointed DBT Ambassador for Jordan by Behavioral Tech / Linehan Institute.
She joined the BTECH training team in 2020 under the mentorship of André Ivanoff, and has now delivered numerous DBT Intensives, Foundational Trainings, and workshops. She is the only verified trainer of BIDBT Emotion Regulation programmes in the MENA region. Her training portfolio includes collaboration with international partners, such as BTech and British Isles DBT Training. She continues the mission of expanding best quality DBT education to clinicians worldwide.
She became the official BTECH Affiliate for DBT‑MENA in 2021, and is recognised as the leading DBT trainer for the Arab-speaking world.
Her academic work reflects her commitment to culturally grounded, clinically rigorous research. Her PhD, supervised by Professor Michaela Swales, examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and non‑suicidal self‑injury (NSSI), with a focus on shame as a mediating factor.
