Online Self-Paced Foundational DBT Training Course

DBT Foundational Training

Purpose: The DBT Foundational Training is a comprehensive program of study designed specifically for individual therapists or skills trainers who are members of an established DBT Consultation Team and have not completed Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training themselves.

Content: The course includes the foundational DBT training course theory, conceptualization, structure, strategies, procedures, and protocols of standard DBT. It assists individual providers with the clinical work of DBT and becoming functioning members of DBT teams. The content is delivered via pre-recorded videos by DBT experts. Quizzes, exercises, and assignments are included for individuals to apply their knowledge.

Length & Schedule: The DBT training course consists of 20 modules for a total of 30 instructor-led hours. The modules are designed to be completed on a self-paced schedule within 20 weeks, with the remaining 6 weeks dedicated to completion of homework assignments and exam. Each module includes reading and homework tasks. Total participant time required for each of the modules is approximately 3 – 5 hours beyond instructional time.

For Whom: This DBT training course is intended for new members of existing DBT teams who are interested in providing DBT with a high level of fidelity to evidence-based models. It is specifically designed for those who need to complete the training in an online format.

 DBT Training Course Description

Since its initial development in the 1980s, DBT has been shown to be effective for an array of problems related to emotion dysregulation. We know that severe emotion regulation difficulties result in persons facing multiple problems across many areas of life and that these problems manifest in a variety of ways.

The principles of DBT were specifically designed for cases that often present therapists with novel challenges. One of the benefits of a principle-based treatment is that it can be versatile enough to accommodate the specific situations, cultures, and contexts of the persons it serves. DBT has been studied and implemented in multiple countries across the globe.

DBT Foundational Training is meant to assist teams who have hired new staff or experienced turnover by allowing newer team members to get trained in the standard content of DBT. It includes 4 hours of content specific to risk assessment, management, and treatment of suicidal behaviors.

This online, pre-recorded, DBT training course is provided on-demand and is self-paced. It is expected that all recordings will be completed within 20 weeks. Additional homework tasks and an exam follow the 20-week phase of the DBT training course. All course requirements must be completed 26 weeks (6 months) after acceptance into the course. Recorded lectures, treatment demonstrations, and guided practice are used to teach DBT theory and strategies in depth. Participants have the option to join live online scheduled Q&A sessions with expert trainers.

The DBT training course provides 30 hours of instructional time across 20 training modules. Modules vary in length of runtime. Quizzes are included in each module and are repeated as a final knowledge test at the end of the program. The course follows the sequence below.

Note that the DBT training course can be completed on a shorter timeline but may not extend beyond 26 weeks. If there are exceptional circumstances that require a course extension, this must be approved by BTECH, and service charges will be incurred.

DBT Training Course Sequence:

1. Application.
2. DBT training course commences immediately upon acceptance and payment, which typically occurs at the time of application.
3. Viewing an orientation video, 20 prerecorded sessions, and a summary video. It is strongly recommended that these videos and the practice exercises included in them be completed within 20 weeks.
4. The remaining 6 weeks should be dedicated to completing the rest of the DBT training course homework and the Foundational Exam.
5. Homework completion requirements must be verified by the participant’s mentor.
6. A Letter of Completion is issued for the course.

The DBT training course is supported by optional live pre-scheduled question and answer (Q&A) sessions with expert trainers. The schedule will be provided upon enrollment. Recordings of the Q&A sessions will be made available while participants are actively enrolled in the course. These sessions are not included in the CE/CME credits for the course, and BTECH will not provide exceptions.

Full disclosure: These sessions may not be used for clinical consultation about specific cases. This should be addressed by the participants’ consultation teams. The sessions will focus on clarification of the material presented in the course.

What You’ll Learn

There are 20 modules in the DBT training course, with each module focusing on a different, in-depth, skillset that is part of the successful DBT treatment practice.

Foundations of DBT: Behavioral Science

Foundations: Acceptance & Dialectical Principles

The Role of Mindfulness in DBT

Conceptualizing the Problems of Those Served by DBT

Emotion Regulation Skills

Functions of Treatment, Levels of Disorder & Stages of Treatment

DBT Treatment Targets

Conducting DBT Individual Therapy

Conducting DBT Skills Training

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills

Distress Tolerance Skills

Problem Solving: Assessment to Solutions

DBT Problem-Solving: Procedures

Validation

Dialectical & Stylistic Strategies

Suicide Risk Assessment

Management & Treatment of Suicidal Behaviors

Generalization – Contact Between Sessions

DBT Case Management & Observing Limits

Prerequisites

The DBT training course requires that participants must work in an active DBT program, currently participate in a consultation team, and continue learning DBT with a mentor from their current DBT consultation team.  Only people who have attended an approved comprehensive training in DBT (e.g., Intensive or Foundational) may serve as mentors for team members attending Foundational Training. The following specific requirements must be documented in your application:

• Membership in a comprehensively trained DBT Consultation team that has been functioning for at least 1 year past completion of comprehensive training.
• A member of the same consultation team as you must serve as your mentor during the training and for 1 year after completion of your DBT training course.
• Mentors must meet the following qualifications:

Either:

• Certification by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification (DBT-LBC)

Or

• Be an active member of a functioning DBT consultation team for at least 2 years post their own comprehensive DBT training course completion

And

• Note that if the mentor has less than 2 years of experience post-comprehensive DBT training, an exception may be made if the mentor receives monthly consultation from a BTECH consultant until they are 2 years post-comprehensive training or the trainee completes their DBT Foundational Training, whichever occurs first.
• Must have received their comprehensive training from one of the following groups
• OR
• be specifically recommended by a BTECH Trainer
• Behavioral Tech or its International Affiliates
• Cognitive & Behavioral Consultants, LLP, New York
• German Association for DBT (DDBT)
• Portland DBT Institute
• Treatment Implementation Collaborative, LLC
• University of Toronto, Centers for Addiction & Mental Health
• University of Washington, Behavioral Research & Therapy Clinics

Learning Objectives

Primary objective: As a result of this DBT training course, participants will be able to provide DBT.

Learning Objectives:

1. Incorporate DBT assumptions about clients, therapists, and therapy into treatment.
2. Conceptualize the importance of balancing change and acceptance in providing consultation.
3. Identify DBT principles and strategies used during DBT consultation team meetings.
4. Increase the motivation and capability of therapists on your consultation team.
5. Use DBT research data to determine whether DBT fits for specific patients.
6. Use DBT research data to engage all relevant persons and organizations in DBT.
7. Use evidence to guide decisions about interventions for specific problems.
8. Describe how the scientific method is used in both treatment development and conducting DBT.
9. Adopt and practice a dialectical worldview in treatment and case formulation.
10. Engage clients in treatment by providing dialectical balance between change and acceptance.
11. Accurately describe the content of the Core Mindfulness skills training module.
12. Convey the rationale for DBT Mindfulness skills.
13. Explain how Core Mindfulness skills are key (core) to all skills taught in DBT.
14. Explain the Biosocial Model of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and other severe disorders in all required treatment contexts.
15. Conceptualize the manner in which suicidal behavior is an attempt by patients to solve problems.
16. Incorporate hypotheses to include in DBT case conceptualization (formulation) based on dialectical dilemmas experienced by persons with BPD.
17. Accurately describe the content of the Emotion Regulation skills training module.
18. Describe the evidence for the use of DBT Emotions Regulation skills.
19. Convey the rationale for DBT Emotion Regulation skills.
20. Describe the functions of comprehensive treatment and the corresponding modes employed in DBT to accomplish these functions.
21. Describe how levels of disorder and stages of treatment guide treatment planning and targeting.
22. Identify client’s life goals that can be used as motivation for engaging in DBT.
23. Structure treatment according to the target hierarchies for each modality (e.g., individual, skills training, phone).
24. Set target hierarchies for clients with multiple problems.
25. Complete DBT pre-treatment tasks (e.g., identify client’s goals, orient to DBT, obtain commitments).
26. Describe the key elements that should be addressed in individual DBT sessions.
27. Structure individual DBT sessions.
28. Describe the function of DBT skills training.
29. Define the roles of the leader and co-leader in DBT skills training.
30. Explain how to structure a DBT skills training class.
31. Identify the contents of the DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills module.
32. Describe the evidence for the use of DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills.
33. Convey the rationale for DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills.
34. Identify the contents of the DBT Distress Tolerance skills module.
35. Describe the evidence for the use of DBT Distress Tolerance skills.
36. Convey the rationale for DBT Distress Tolerance skills.
37. Define problem behaviors specifically and behaviorally.
38. Conduct a chain analysis of an episode of a target behavior.
39. Conduct missing links analyses of needed behaviors that did not occur.
40. Describe the DBT problem-solving strategies (skills training, cognitive modification, exposure, contingency management).
41. Generate and evaluate solutions for specific problematic links from a chain analysis.
42. Describe the use of validation in DBT.
43. Implement the levels of validation in DBT.
44. Employ dialectical strategies to motivate patients to actively work toward their goals.
45. Implement DBT stylistic strategies (reciprocal and irreverent communication).
46. Assess long-term and acute risk for suicide.
47. Talk with individuals in a manner that facilitates assessment of suicide risk.
48. Describe the steps involved in crisis management.
49. Apply DBT suicide crisis protocols.
50. Respond to ongoing suicidal behavior during treatment.
51. Coach clients to generalize skills in all relevant contexts.
52. More effectively coach clients with skills specific to their needs.
53. Competently help patients employ difficult-to-use skills.
54. Implement the DBT case management strategies.
55. Balance case management strategies of consultation to the client and environmental intervention.
56. Explain the importance of observing personal and professional limits in DBT.
57. Describe the steps for observing limits in DBT.
    

Study Resources

This list includes readings that are required for comprehensive training (Foundational or Intensive) in DBT. Each DBT provider should have a personal copy of the primary texts. Bold text corresponds to the abbreviations for the pertinent readings for each module.

1.  Primary texts required for DBT training course

• Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. Guilford Press.
• Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
• Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

2.  Additional texts/articles required for comprehensive DBT training course

• Sayrs, J. H. R., & Linehan, M. M. (2019). DBT teams: Development and practice. The Guilford Press.

3.  Behavior Therapy (At least one)

• Farmer, R. F., & Chapman, A. L. (2016). Behavioral interventions in Cognitive Therapy: Practical guidance for putting theory into action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association.
• Heard, H. L., & Swales, M. A. (2016). Changing behavior in DBT: Problem solving in action. Guilford Press.
• Pryor, K. (2002). Don’t shoot the dog: The new art of teaching and training (Revised edition). Ringpress Books Ltd
• Ramnerö, J., & Törneke, N. (2008). The ABCs of human behavior: Behavioral principles for the practicing clinician. New Harbinger Publications.

4.  Required for DBT for Adolescents

• Miller, A. L., Rathus, J. H., & Linehan, M. M. (2007). Dialectical behavior therapy with suicidal adolescents. Guilford Publications.

5.  Exposure Procedures

• Harned, M. S. (2022). Treating trauma in dialectical behavior therapy: The DBT prolonged exposure protocol (DBT PE). The Guilford Press.

6.  Specific chapters required for adaptations of DBT

• Dimeff, L. A., Rizvi, S. L., & Koerner, K. (2021). Dialectical Behavior Therapy in clinical practice: Applications across disorders and settings (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

7.  Supplemental Readings

• Aitken, R. (1982). Taking the path of zen. North Point Press.
• Barlow, D. H. (Ed.). (2007). Clinical handbook of psychological disorders (5th ed.). The Guilford Press.
• Craske, M. G., Treanor, M., Conway, C. C., Zbozinek, T., & Vervliet, B. (2014). Maximizing exposure therapy: An inhibitory learning approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 58, 10–23.
• Feil, N., & de Klerk-Rubin, V. (2003). V/F validation: The feil method, how to help disoriented old-old. Edward Feil Productions. ISBN 1-878169-00-9
• Foa, E. B., Hembree, E., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2007). Prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD: Emotional processing of traumatic experiences therapist guide (Treatments That Work). Oxford Press.
• Linehan, M. M., & Schmidt, H. (1995). The dialectics of effective treatment of borderline personality disorder. In W. O.
• O’Donohue & L. Krasner (Eds.), Theories in Behavior Therapy (pp. 553-584). American Psychological Association.
• Linehan, M. M. (1997). Validation and psychotherapy. In A. C. Bohart & L. S. Greenberg (Eds.), Empathy reconsidered: New directions in psychotherapy (p. 353–392). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10226-016Rathus, J. H., & Miller, A.L. (2017). DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents. The Guilford Press.
• Rizvi, S. L. (2019). Chain Analysis in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. The Guilford Press.
• Swales, M. A., & Heard, H. L. (2017). Dialectical behaviour therapy: Distinctive features (2nd ed.). Routledge.
• Swales, M.A. (Ed.). (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Oxford University Press.

Technical Requirements

Our Online Portal (powered by Thinkific) will be used to share materials and collect participants’ surveys and assignments. For live, remote, instructor-led trainings, the online portal will also host the live Zoom sessions. For onsite training, the online portal portal will be used in conjunction with the DBT training course content covered during the onsite event.

All participants should have the following confirmed prior to the start of the training. Please note that all the following items may not be applicable for your training event (i.e. use of Zoom for onsite training):

• A high-speed Internet Service Connection with a minimum speed of 5Mbps. Test your internet speed.
• The most recent version of any of the following web-browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox , Safari , Microsoft Edge (Please note Internet Explorer will not be supported)
• Web-browser configurations must have Javascript enabled and popup blockers disabled.
• The following software applications: Zoom, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, A PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, or the ability to view PDFs in a web-browser. To test your internet connection, camera, and microphone for Zoom, you can use Zoom’s testing application.
• No firewall restrictions. If a firewall is installed, please be aware that may interfere with the training content and materials, as it may be blocked. Please include the following 3rd party services to trusted sites list(s):
• Thinkific Learning Management System: https://behavioraltech.thinkific.com/
• SurveyMonkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/
• Zoom: https://zoom.us/

Continuing Education

This offering meets the requirements for the following hours by discipline. Licensing and continuing education requirements vary by state. Please contact your state’s regulatory authority to verify if this course meets your licensing or continuing education requirements. Inquiries regarding CE for other disciplines not listed may be directed to Behavioral Tech at (206) 675-8589 or via email to CE@behavioraltech.org.

CE NOTE: Participants are required to complete 100% of the DBT training course to be eligible for continuing education credits.

Mental Health Counselors


Behavioral Tech is approved by an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP™) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the program. This program is approved for 30 CE hours.
Nurses
Behavioral Tech is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Nurses should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Continuing Medical Education is accepted by the ANCC for nursing certification renewal. The maximum AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ designated by Behavioral Tech for this activity = 30.

Psychiatrists


Behavioral Tech is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. The maximum AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ designated by Behavioral Tech for this activity = 30.

Psychologists 


Behavioral Tech is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Behavioral Tech maintains responsibility for the program and its content. Behavioral Tech will email you a letter documenting your attendance after the successful completion of the program and homework. The number of hours Behavioral Tech has allocated within APA guidelines = 30.

Psychologists – New York


Behavioral Tech is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists, #PSY-0063. Behavioral Tech will email a certificate of attendance upon 100% completion of this activity. The total contact hour allocated for this activity = 30.

Social Workers- WA

Behavioral Tech will apply to the NASW, Washington State Chapter, Provider Number 1975-166, to offer continuing education for Certified Social Workers. Behavioral Tech will email a certificate of attendance upon 100% completion of this activity. The hours of CE allocated for this activity = 30.

Social Workers – NY

Behavioral Tech is approved by recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers, #0040. Behavioral Tech will email a letter documenting attendance to participants with 100% completion of the program and homework. The hours allocated for this activity = 30.

General CE/CME Disclosures and Policies

Conflict of interest definition: A conflict of interest may be considered to exist if a continuing education course faculty is affiliated with, or has any significant financial interest, in any organization(s) that may have a direct interest in the subject matter of the presentation or may be co-sponsoring or offering financial support to the course. Situations involving a potential conflict of interest are not inherently bad or wrong, but in accordance with standards for continuing medical education we would like you to be aware of the affiliation/financial interest of your instructors.

Faculty Disclaimer: When an unlabelled use of a commercial product, or an investigative use not yet approved for any purpose is discussed during an educational activity, we shall require the speaker to disclose that the product is not labeled for the use under discussion or that the product is still investigative.

Notice of requirements for successful completion: For all trainings (both in-person and remote), participants must attend 100% of the training and complete the Final Evaluation to receive a certificate of successful completion. This includes signing in and out each day/session of the event. For remote, Instructor-led online training, participants have to pass the Post Assessment(s) with a score of 75% or higher.

Commercial support or sponsorship: There is no commercial company support for this CME/CE event.

Noncommercial Sponsor Support: There is no noncommercial sponsor support for this CME/CE activity.

Non-Endorsement of Products: The Behavioral Tech approval status refers only to continuing education activities and does not imply that there is real or implied endorsement of any product, service, or company referred to in this activity nor of any company subsidizing costs related to the activity.

Off-Label Product Use: This CME/CE activity does not include any unannounced information about off-label use of a product for a purpose other than that for which it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships: Faculty members are required to disclose all conflicts of interest and any relevant financial relationships that may affect the DBT training course content. Unless specified on Behavioral Tech’s website or on other printed materials/media, none of the individuals in a position to control the content of this CE/CME activity (including planners, editors, CE/CME Review Committee members, faculty presenters, moderators/facilitators, reviewers, etc.) have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.

CE Reprint Policy: For missing/lost CE documentation, an administrative fee of $50 is required for all CE/CME activities after 2017. For CE reprints prior to 2017, please refer to the website or contact support@behavioraltech.org.

Conflict of Interest & Faculty Disclosure Statements

For more information about the conflict of interests and faculty disclosures please click here.