Training
Catalog
DBT for Children: Training for Experienced DBT Clinicians, Part 2
Getting to the Heart of the Problem: Targeting, Assessing, and Solving Problem Behaviors
This training is designed for individual psychotherapists with an interest in defining complex client problems and developing effective solutions with clarity and precision.
One of the difficulties in treating complex clients is deciding how to spend session time when the client presents with multiple problem behaviors in a given week. Determining treatment priorities in the midst of unrelenting client crises can feel overwhelming and confusing even to the most experienced therapist, and can lead to diminished motivation for clinician and client alike. This workshop draws from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a treatment designed to help address this common problem by using a treatment hierarchy to prioritize behaviors to target in session. One function of targeting is to determine which behaviors need to be assessed and solved. Chain analyses set the stage for understanding behavior and intervening with increased precision and efficiency. A clear understanding of the options for solving problems, based on a well-formulated problem and clear assessment, can help clients and therapists experience success in treatment. This helps avoid inefficient use of time and feeling stuck in therapy. When done correctly, both you and your client will have a clear snapshot of the variables at work during a given behavior, highlight problematic behavioral patterns, and find new behaviors to put to work for your client.
This training is highly experiential and will include topics such as setting precise and appropriate treatment targets tailored to the patient’s clinical presentation, and conducting accurate chain and solution analyses. Instructors will utilize a combination of lecture, demonstration, and practice of DBT interventions. Participants will have multiple opportunities for hands-on practice throughout the workshop.
This training is intended for mental health professionals who have knowledge and experience in cognitive behavioral therapy, and want to advance their skills in targeting behaviors and conducting chain and solution analyses with clients with multiple problems.
An Orientation to DBT Implementation
This overview of DBT and orientation to DBT training introduces stakeholders in behavioral service systems to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and orients them to the training necessary to implement DBT programs.
Those working with patients who have multiple problems and severe emotion dysregulation are often stymied by the complex clinical presentations and challenges that arise during treatment. 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.
This presentation and discussion is a precursor to the world of DBT training. It consists of 2 modules. In the first, the dialectical nature of DBT is explained via the balance between change-based technology (behavior therapy) with acceptance-based principles (validation). It describes the structure and components of standard DBT and the manner in which these serve specific functions. It provides an outline of the program elements of DBT so that participants can begin to conceptualize how DBT might be implemented in their own programs. The second module orients participants to the comprehensive DBT training model, including expected milestones at which tasks are expected to be completed. It allows for discussion so that participant questions can be answered, and specific strategies can be identified to increase the likelihood of a successful implementation.
Teaching methods include lecture and treatment demonstrations to illustrate the principles and strategies of DBT, as well as discussion and a question and answer session.
The presentation describes the structure, components, and core strategies of standard DBT and orients participants to the training and implementation plan needed to establish these.
DBT Skills Training
Research on DBT shows that skills serve a critical function in the treatment. These 4 days cover the basic structure and strategies required to engage in DBT skills training. Participants learn how to plan, structure, and conduct DBT skills classes. The targets for skills training, as well as how to apply fundamental DBT strategies in skills training, are addressed. In addition, significant attention is paid to understanding the content and purpose of the acceptance-oriented and change-oriented DBT skills
Acceptance-oriented Skills Mindfulness & Distress Tolerance
The ability to “experience reality as it is” is necessary for emotional awareness, as well as to determine a course of action. The components of mindfulness are a necessary foundation on which other skills are built, and the principles are critical to cognitive behavior therapies in general. Distress tolerance is necessary when changing a difficult situation is not currently possible. This calls for the ability to tolerate the distress caused by that situation or emotion. Participants learn what mindfulness is, and how to practice mindfulness skills. This is followed by teaching specific distress tolerance strategies.
Change-oriented Skills Emotion Regulation & Interpersonal Effectiveness
Difficulties regulating emotions are often at the heart of the problematic behaviors we engage in as humans. These difficulties are often made worse by an inability to navigate our interpersonal relationships. Participants will learn the change-oriented skills designed to teach us and the clients with whom we work how to regulate difficult emotions, and take steps to decrease our vulnerabilities for falling into “emotion mind’. Strategies for more effectively getting what we want from others while maintaining relationships and our self-respect are also taught.
This course is designed for mental health professionals with an interest in using DBT skills with clients. In addition to helping providers refine their understanding of the content of DBT skills, it will provide guidance about teaching those skills to clients. An additional benefit of learning skills is enhancement of professional practice by teaching strategies that providers can use to improve their own mindfulness practice, tolerance for distress, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
The workshop will use lecture, extensive clinical examples, role play and demonstration to achieve its objectives. We recommend participants familiarize themselves with the DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed. Linehan, 2015), and bring a copy of the manual and the DBT Skills Training Manual Handouts and Worksheets (2nd ed. Linehan, 2015) with them to the workshop.
Getting to the Heart of the Problem: Targeting, Assessing, and Solving Problem Behaviors
This training is designed for experienced individual psychotherapists with solid familiarity with DBT to help them define client problems and develop effective solutions with clarity and precision.
One of the difficulties in treating complex clients is deciding how to spend session time when the client presents with multiple problem behaviors in a given week. Determining treatment priorities in the midst of unrelenting client crises can feel overwhelming and confusing even to the most experienced therapist, and can lead to diminished motivation for clinician and client alike. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps address this common problem by using a treatment hierarchy to prioritize behaviors to target in session. One function of targeting is to determine which behaviors need to be assessed and solved. Chain analyses set the stage for understanding behavior and intervening with increased precision and efficiency. A clear understanding of the options for solving problems, based on a well-formulated problem and clear assessment, can help clients and therapists experience success in treatment. This helps avoid the problems that many experience of inefficient use of time and feeling stuck in therapy. When done correctly, both you and your client will have a clear snapshot of the variables at work during a given behavior, highlight problematic behavioral patterns, and find new behaviors to put to work for your client.
This training is highly experiential and will include topics such as setting precise and appropriate treatment targets tailored to the patient’s clinical presentation, and conducting accurate chain and solution analyses. Instructors will utilize a combination of lecture, demonstration, and practice of DBT interventions. Participants will have multiple opportunities for hands-on practice throughout the workshop.
This training is intended for mental health professionals who have knowledge of, experience, and/or prior training in DBT, and want to advance their skills in targeting behaviors and conducting chain and solution analyses with clients with multiple problems.
Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to effectively treat clients at risk for suicide is a critical skill for mental health professionals. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress.
This workshop is targeted to help mental health professionals assess and manage suicide risk and provide treatment to individuals at risk for suicide. Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to develop and implement treatment plans for patients at risk for suicide and effectively respond to ongoing suicidal behavior during treatment. Special attention will also be given to postvention procedures in the event of a patient suicide.
This workshop is intended for mental health professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be a practicing mental health professional, or a student in a mental health profession.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to effectively treat clients at risk for suicide is a critical skill for mental health professionals. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress.
This 6-hour workshop is targeted to help mental health professionals provide treatment to persons at high risk for suicide. Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to develop and implement treatment plans for individuals at risk for suicide and effectively respond to ongoing suicidal behavior during treatment. Special attention will also be given to postvention procedures in the event of a patient suicide.
This workshop specifically addresses provision of ongoing mental health treatment to persons at risk for suicide, and does not address the skills of suicide risk assessment and management. Therefore, in addition to a background in the provision of mental health services, completion of courses in suicide risk assessment and suicide risk management are required to participate in this training.
This workshop is intended for Mental Health Professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be a practicing mental health professional, or a student in a mental health profession.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
Suicide Risk Management
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to assess and manage risk is of critical importance for those who come in contact with suicidal persons. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress. This is a 3-hour workshop targeted to help professionals who may face such situations and need to know how to manage risk after an assessment of risk factors.
This workshop is intended to teach specific strategies for management of high-risk situations, with the expectation that participants will be able to intervene in suicide crisis situations. Specific attention will be given to the use of the Linehan Risk Assessment and Management Protocol (LRAMP) as a means of learning and documenting the risk management process. Assessment of suicide risk is not covered in this workshop, and a working knowledge of suicide risk factors is required for attendance. As such, completion of a workshop on suicide risk assessment is a prerequisite to participate in this training.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
DBT: Treating Clients with the Eating Disorders & Multiple Problems
Eating disorders (EDs) affect more than five million Americans each year. While cognitive behavioral strategies have been shown to be effective in reducing the frequency of binge/purge behaviors, dietary restraint, and concerns around body shape, in those with eating disorders, approximately 50-60% of patients diagnosed with bulimia remain symptomatic after CBT treatment (Fairburn, et al., 1995). The data for those with anorexia is even more dismal with approximately 10% dying from the illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Complicating the clinical picture further is that many of these eating disordered patients who are refractory to treatment present with co-occuring psychiatric disturbances including axis II pathology. Indeed, several studies investigating the prevalence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in women being treated for an eating disorder (ED) have produced estimates as high as 44% (Gwirtsman, Roy-Byrne, Yager, and Gerner, 1983).
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) used to treat highly suicidal, self injurious individuals with borderline personality disorder has alsobeen applied to the treatment of these complex, multi-diagnostic eating disordered patients. Several studies have demonstrated that DBT with those diagnosed with an eating disorder is both efficacious (Safer, Telch, & Agras, 2001) and effective (Ben-Porath, Wisniewski, & Warren, 2009;Federici, & Wisniewski, 2013).
DBT Team Building Intensive Program, Part 2
See Part 1 description
Training Catalog
DBT for Children: Training for Experienced DBT Clinicians, Part 2
Getting to the Heart of the Problem: Targeting, Assessing, and Solving Problem Behaviors
This training is designed for individual psychotherapists with an interest in defining complex client problems and developing effective solutions with clarity and precision.
One of the difficulties in treating complex clients is deciding how to spend session time when the client presents with multiple problem behaviors in a given week. Determining treatment priorities in the midst of unrelenting client crises can feel overwhelming and confusing even to the most experienced therapist, and can lead to diminished motivation for clinician and client alike. This workshop draws from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a treatment designed to help address this common problem by using a treatment hierarchy to prioritize behaviors to target in session. One function of targeting is to determine which behaviors need to be assessed and solved. Chain analyses set the stage for understanding behavior and intervening with increased precision and efficiency. A clear understanding of the options for solving problems, based on a well-formulated problem and clear assessment, can help clients and therapists experience success in treatment. This helps avoid inefficient use of time and feeling stuck in therapy. When done correctly, both you and your client will have a clear snapshot of the variables at work during a given behavior, highlight problematic behavioral patterns, and find new behaviors to put to work for your client.
This training is highly experiential and will include topics such as setting precise and appropriate treatment targets tailored to the patient’s clinical presentation, and conducting accurate chain and solution analyses. Instructors will utilize a combination of lecture, demonstration, and practice of DBT interventions. Participants will have multiple opportunities for hands-on practice throughout the workshop.
This training is intended for mental health professionals who have knowledge and experience in cognitive behavioral therapy, and want to advance their skills in targeting behaviors and conducting chain and solution analyses with clients with multiple problems.
An Orientation to DBT Implementation
This overview of DBT and orientation to DBT training introduces stakeholders in behavioral service systems to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and orients them to the training necessary to implement DBT programs.
Those working with patients who have multiple problems and severe emotion dysregulation are often stymied by the complex clinical presentations and challenges that arise during treatment. 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.
This presentation and discussion is a precursor to the world of DBT training. It consists of 2 modules. In the first, the dialectical nature of DBT is explained via the balance between change-based technology (behavior therapy) with acceptance-based principles (validation). It describes the structure and components of standard DBT and the manner in which these serve specific functions. It provides an outline of the program elements of DBT so that participants can begin to conceptualize how DBT might be implemented in their own programs. The second module orients participants to the comprehensive DBT training model, including expected milestones at which tasks are expected to be completed. It allows for discussion so that participant questions can be answered, and specific strategies can be identified to increase the likelihood of a successful implementation.
Teaching methods include lecture and treatment demonstrations to illustrate the principles and strategies of DBT, as well as discussion and a question and answer session.
The presentation describes the structure, components, and core strategies of standard DBT and orients participants to the training and implementation plan needed to establish these.
DBT Skills Training
Research on DBT shows that skills serve a critical function in the treatment. These 4 days cover the basic structure and strategies required to engage in DBT skills training. Participants learn how to plan, structure, and conduct DBT skills classes. The targets for skills training, as well as how to apply fundamental DBT strategies in skills training, are addressed. In addition, significant attention is paid to understanding the content and purpose of the acceptance-oriented and change-oriented DBT skills
Acceptance-oriented Skills Mindfulness & Distress Tolerance
The ability to “experience reality as it is” is necessary for emotional awareness, as well as to determine a course of action. The components of mindfulness are a necessary foundation on which other skills are built, and the principles are critical to cognitive behavior therapies in general. Distress tolerance is necessary when changing a difficult situation is not currently possible. This calls for the ability to tolerate the distress caused by that situation or emotion. Participants learn what mindfulness is, and how to practice mindfulness skills. This is followed by teaching specific distress tolerance strategies.
Change-oriented Skills Emotion Regulation & Interpersonal Effectiveness
Difficulties regulating emotions are often at the heart of the problematic behaviors we engage in as humans. These difficulties are often made worse by an inability to navigate our interpersonal relationships. Participants will learn the change-oriented skills designed to teach us and the clients with whom we work how to regulate difficult emotions, and take steps to decrease our vulnerabilities for falling into “emotion mind’. Strategies for more effectively getting what we want from others while maintaining relationships and our self-respect are also taught.
This course is designed for mental health professionals with an interest in using DBT skills with clients. In addition to helping providers refine their understanding of the content of DBT skills, it will provide guidance about teaching those skills to clients. An additional benefit of learning skills is enhancement of professional practice by teaching strategies that providers can use to improve their own mindfulness practice, tolerance for distress, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
The workshop will use lecture, extensive clinical examples, role play and demonstration to achieve its objectives. We recommend participants familiarize themselves with the DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed. Linehan, 2015), and bring a copy of the manual and the DBT Skills Training Manual Handouts and Worksheets (2nd ed. Linehan, 2015) with them to the workshop.
Getting to the Heart of the Problem: Targeting, Assessing, and Solving Problem Behaviors
This training is designed for experienced individual psychotherapists with solid familiarity with DBT to help them define client problems and develop effective solutions with clarity and precision.
One of the difficulties in treating complex clients is deciding how to spend session time when the client presents with multiple problem behaviors in a given week. Determining treatment priorities in the midst of unrelenting client crises can feel overwhelming and confusing even to the most experienced therapist, and can lead to diminished motivation for clinician and client alike. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps address this common problem by using a treatment hierarchy to prioritize behaviors to target in session. One function of targeting is to determine which behaviors need to be assessed and solved. Chain analyses set the stage for understanding behavior and intervening with increased precision and efficiency. A clear understanding of the options for solving problems, based on a well-formulated problem and clear assessment, can help clients and therapists experience success in treatment. This helps avoid the problems that many experience of inefficient use of time and feeling stuck in therapy. When done correctly, both you and your client will have a clear snapshot of the variables at work during a given behavior, highlight problematic behavioral patterns, and find new behaviors to put to work for your client.
This training is highly experiential and will include topics such as setting precise and appropriate treatment targets tailored to the patient’s clinical presentation, and conducting accurate chain and solution analyses. Instructors will utilize a combination of lecture, demonstration, and practice of DBT interventions. Participants will have multiple opportunities for hands-on practice throughout the workshop.
This training is intended for mental health professionals who have knowledge of, experience, and/or prior training in DBT, and want to advance their skills in targeting behaviors and conducting chain and solution analyses with clients with multiple problems.
Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to effectively treat clients at risk for suicide is a critical skill for mental health professionals. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress.
This workshop is targeted to help mental health professionals assess and manage suicide risk and provide treatment to individuals at risk for suicide. Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to develop and implement treatment plans for patients at risk for suicide and effectively respond to ongoing suicidal behavior during treatment. Special attention will also be given to postvention procedures in the event of a patient suicide.
This workshop is intended for mental health professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be a practicing mental health professional, or a student in a mental health profession.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
Treatment of Individuals at Risk for Suicide
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to effectively treat clients at risk for suicide is a critical skill for mental health professionals. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress.
This 6-hour workshop is targeted to help mental health professionals provide treatment to persons at high risk for suicide. Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to develop and implement treatment plans for individuals at risk for suicide and effectively respond to ongoing suicidal behavior during treatment. Special attention will also be given to postvention procedures in the event of a patient suicide.
This workshop specifically addresses provision of ongoing mental health treatment to persons at risk for suicide, and does not address the skills of suicide risk assessment and management. Therefore, in addition to a background in the provision of mental health services, completion of courses in suicide risk assessment and suicide risk management are required to participate in this training.
This workshop is intended for Mental Health Professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be a practicing mental health professional, or a student in a mental health profession.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
Suicide Risk Management
With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to assess and manage risk is of critical importance for those who come in contact with suicidal persons. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress. This is a 3-hour workshop targeted to help professionals who may face such situations and need to know how to manage risk after an assessment of risk factors.
This workshop is intended to teach specific strategies for management of high-risk situations, with the expectation that participants will be able to intervene in suicide crisis situations. Specific attention will be given to the use of the Linehan Risk Assessment and Management Protocol (LRAMP) as a means of learning and documenting the risk management process. Assessment of suicide risk is not covered in this workshop, and a working knowledge of suicide risk factors is required for attendance. As such, completion of a workshop on suicide risk assessment is a prerequisite to participate in this training.
Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.
DBT: Treating Clients with the Eating Disorders & Multiple Problems
Eating disorders (EDs) affect more than five million Americans each year. While cognitive behavioral strategies have been shown to be effective in reducing the frequency of binge/purge behaviors, dietary restraint, and concerns around body shape, in those with eating disorders, approximately 50-60% of patients diagnosed with bulimia remain symptomatic after CBT treatment (Fairburn, et al., 1995). The data for those with anorexia is even more dismal with approximately 10% dying from the illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Complicating the clinical picture further is that many of these eating disordered patients who are refractory to treatment present with co-occuring psychiatric disturbances including axis II pathology. Indeed, several studies investigating the prevalence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in women being treated for an eating disorder (ED) have produced estimates as high as 44% (Gwirtsman, Roy-Byrne, Yager, and Gerner, 1983).
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) used to treat highly suicidal, self injurious individuals with borderline personality disorder has alsobeen applied to the treatment of these complex, multi-diagnostic eating disordered patients. Several studies have demonstrated that DBT with those diagnosed with an eating disorder is both efficacious (Safer, Telch, & Agras, 2001) and effective (Ben-Porath, Wisniewski, & Warren, 2009;Federici, & Wisniewski, 2013).
DBT Team Building Intensive Program, Part 2
See Part 1 description
