Training Description

Course Description
This live remote instructor-led program consists of eight 90-minute modules delivered online for a total of 12 instructor-led hours. Each module includes reading and homework tasks. Total participant time required for each module is approximately 2.5 -3 hours. The modular nature of this course allows us to customize it to the schedule of our clients. Quizzes are included in each module, and are repeated as a final knowledge test at the end of the program.

Research indicates that DBT skills are a key mechanism of change for suicide attempts, non-suicidal self-injury, depression, and anger, and multiple randomized control trials have shown DBT skills to be effective for a variety of problems, including depression, emotion dysregulation, binge eating, and borderline personality disorder.

This introduction to DBT Skills Training introduces Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills: Core Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Participants learn about the function of skills training in DBT, the structure of a DBT skills training program, the goals and general content of each skills module, and the targets for DBT skills training. It also provides an overview of the manner in which DBT conceptualizes problems, as well as the behavior change, validation, and dialectical strategies used across all modes of the treatment. Clinical examples are used to illustrate specific skills training procedures. Video of roundtable discussions of DBT experts, and demonstrations of a skills training class are incorporated.

The course is designed for all mental health professionals who want to learn DBT skills to improve their work with their clients. Prior knowledge of DBT is not required; however, learning will be enhanced if participants are familiar with Dr. Marsha Linehan’s 1993 text, Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, and the 2015 DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition. Participants should have the latter available during the course.

This course is a precursor to the world of DBT skills training. Those who want to fully implement a DBT skills training program are invited to follow this course with the DBT Skills Training: Fundamentals, which provides in-depth training in acquisition, strengthening, and generalization procedures of DBT skills. DBT skills training is one of 4 modes of standard outpatient DBT. For those who want to implement a full DBT program we recommend completion of the comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training.

Primary Objective:
As a result of this training participants will be able to describe the key elements of DBT skills training.

Learning Objectives

Utilize evidence on DBT skills training to determine curriculum appropriate for treatment setting and
population.
Describe the function of DBT skills training.
Identify the targets for DBT skills training.
Describe the four DBT skills modules.
Identify the strategies and procedures required for effective DBT skills training.
Define the roles of the leader and co-leader in DBT skills training.
Describe the dialectical nature of DBT skills.
Describe the dialectical nature of DBT skills training.
Identify what is valid in actions, cognitions, and emotions of patients.
Identify what is invalid in actions, cognitions, and emotions of patients.
Convey to patients what is valid in their actions, cognitions, and emotions.
Describe key concepts related to increasing desired behaviors and decreasing unwanted behaviors.
Describe strategies that can be used to pull new behaviors from clients.
Identify the goals of DBT Mindfulness skills.
Identify the contents of the DBT Mindfulness skills module.
Identify the goals of DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills.
Identify the contents of the DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills module.
Identify the goals of the DBT Emotion Regulation skills.
Identify the contents of the DBT Emotion Regulation skills module.
Identify the contents of the goals of DBT Distress Tolerance skills.
Identify the contents of the DBT Distress Tolerance skill module.

Schedule

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Schedule includes two (2) 90-minute sessions separated by 30 minute break

Trainers

Donna Pattie, MSW, LICSW

Donna Pattie, MSW, LICSW is the DBT Trainer and Consultant for 15 DBT outpatient teams at Nystrom & Associates, Ltd across the state of MN. Donna is a Linehan Board Certified DBT therapist and DBT Team Lead in New Brighton, MN for a Linehan Board Program Certified Team. Donna supervises team members and interns and has delivered DBT in both the Adult and Adolescent/Family programs since 2011. She was intensively trained by Melanie Harned in DBT PE, and has delivered DBT PE for the last 6 years. She supervises Nystrom clinicians across MN in the delivery of DBT PE monthly. Donna has run DBT standard adult outpatient groups, a DBT Adaptive Skills group for clients with traumatic brain injury/developmental delays and a DBT SUD group for clients with co-occurring substance use disorders. Prior to her work in MN, Donna delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in an outpatient private practice in North Easton, MA and previously was the Team Lead at the Brockton VA Medical Center’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team. She started her work at the VA on the Substance Use Disorder Inpatient Detoxification and Rehabilitation programs. Donna brings over 30 years of experience in the clinical field and has a passion for fidelity to DBT and training both new and experienced clinicians in the field. She received her Master’s degree in clinical social work from Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston, MA.

Additional Faculty & Presenters

Basma F. Kilani

Amman, Jordan Basma Kilani, M.A., is a DBT-LBC Certified Clinician by the Linehan Institute from Amman, Jordan where she is Founder & Chief Specialist at the Maria Den Braven Mental Health Center. She is also the Managing Director of DBT-MENA, the BTECH affiliate in that region. Basma began studying DBT in 2008 as a graduate student at the University of Jordan. In 2016-17, Basma’s team completed DBT Intensive Training through British Isles DBT. In 2019, Basma was appointed DBT Ambassador in Jordan by Behavioral Tech/ Linehan Institute, Basma joined the BTECH training team as a Trainer in 2022; André Ivanoff serves as her training mentor. Basma became the BTECH Affiliate head for DBT MENA in 2021. Basma hosted a Skillful Living Training in October 2020 , Foundational Training with Nick Salsman, and has presented in three DBT Intensives, two in the MENA region in 2020-21, and the other at Columbia University in 2021-22. Basma has a published Master’s dissertation on the prevalence of eating disorders amongst young adults in Jordan. Basma’s PhD research under Michaela Swales’ supervision is on the association between adverse childhood experiences and non-suicidal self Injury (NSSI) mediated by shame as well the implementation of DBT skills training in Jordan. She is also currently involved in survey research with 180 participants in the MENA region who have completed DBT Intensive Training. Basma is committed to the dissemination of DBT, not only in the Middle East, but across the globe.

Prerequisites

All participants should have access to a copy of the DBT Skills Training Manual: Second Edition.

Study Resources

The readings pertinent to workshops on DBT Skills Training can be found in the primary text listed below. Each DBT provider should have access to a copy.

Primary text for DBT skills training:

Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Manual: Second Edition. The Guilford Press.

Supplemental reading for DBT skills training with adolescents and their families:

Rathus, J. H., & Miller, A.L. (2015). DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents. The Guilford Press.

A note for those who work with adolescents and their families:

Our training models extensively reference sections of Dr. Marsha Linehan’s DBT Skills Training Manual, 2nd Edition (2015). This book comprises most of the reading assignments in our trainings. The reason for this is that it is a comprehensive treatment of DBT skills, including key treatment concepts, core strategies and procedures, and variations on the structure of skills training based on studies with different lengths of treatment. Moreover, the RCTs with adolescents that were conducted by Lars Mehlum et al in Norway, and Linehan et al at the University of Washington and UCLA were based on the material in this manual.
Many who have worked with adolescents prefer handouts that are presented differently than those in the second edition of Dr. Linehan’s manual. Those persons may wish to use the handouts from DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents (2015) by Drs. Jill Rathus and Alec Miller as an adjunct to the Linehan skills manual with their adolescent patients. They may also find the background material contained in the Rathus and Miller volume a helpful adjunct in learning to deliver the skills to adolescents and their families.

Attend

Tuition Schedule:

Early Bird: $300 – Registrations made on/or before December 13, 2021
Standard Registration: $325 – Registrations made on/or before January 18, 2022
Last Minute Registration: $350 – Registrations made between January 19-28, 2022 (January 28 is final cut-off date)

IMPORTANT: Two weeks prior to the training, participants will receive an email from our Online Portal (powered by Thinkific) with a sign-in URL for this training. Please follow the instructions in the email to log in to our Online Portal and set your password, prior to Day 1 of the training.

Please email support@behavioraltech.org if you have any questions about accessing your training.

Cancellations, Substitutions and Refunds
For a complete list of Behavioral Tech policies and limits of liability, see our Sales & Refund Policy page.

Technical Requirements

Our Online Portal (powered by Thinkific) will be used to host the live Zoom sessions and share supplemental materials. All Live-Remote Trainings require each participant to have:
- 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

Continuing Education Credit Information

Behavioral Tech cannot offer partial credit. To receive Continuing Education Credits, participants are required by the CE Boards to
meet all criteria listed below:
1) Attend 100% of the training
2) Complete the Last Day Evaluation survey, and
3) Pass the Post Assessment(s) with a score of 70% or higher

Please remember to login through the Zoom online platform to document your attendance. Continuing Education will be emailed to
you 4-6 weeks after the training.

If this offering is approved for Continuing Education or Continuing Medical Education, BTECH verifies that it meets the requirements
for the number of hours for each discipline listed below. If there are no listings, this offering does not provide continuing education
credits. 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 206.675.8588 or via email to support@behavioraltech.org.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors
Behavioral Tech is approved the NAADAC – the Association for Addiction Professionals, Provider #77431. You will
receive a letter via email documenting your attendance upon successful completion of the activity. The allotted
contact hours for this activity = 12.

Mental Health Counselors
Behavioral Tech is approved as a NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP™), ACEP No. 5885. Programs
that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Behavioral Tech, LLC, is solely responsible for all aspects of
the program. Behavioral Tech will email you a letter documenting your attendance upon successful completion of the
activity. The allocated clock hours for this activity = 12.

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 = 12.

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 = 12.

Psychologists
Behavioral Tech is approved 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 successful completion of the program and homework. The number of hours
Behavioral Tech has allocated within APA guidelines = 12.

Social Workers- WA
Behavioral Tech will apply 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 = 12.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills: Introduction (Sold Out!)